Mechai Viravaidya: How Mr. Condom made Thailand a better place

http://www.ted.com At TEDxChange, Thailand's "Mr. Condom," Mechai Viravaidya, walks us through the country's bold plan to raise its standard of living, starting in the 1970s. First step: population control. And that means a lot of frank, funny -- and very effective -- talk about condoms.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate. Watch a highlight reel of the Top 10 TEDTalks at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10

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[frilans]

This man is a hero! He is also really entertaining, a real pleasure to watch.

Condoms saved 7.7 million lives in Thailand, reducing new HIV infections by 90% between 1991 and 2003. So "weapons of mass protection" is an excellent slogan.

"Coffee and Condoms, we keep you awake and alive"

"...but be careful, these are Thai size"

epic :-)

[guyben13]

Actually there is a question whether abstinence works. Abstinence in large groups of people is impossible - heck, even Catholic priests, the people most passionate about abstinence - can't remain abstinent as a group.

So abstinence as a solution isn't preventing sex - rather it puts sex out of the accepted norms - which prevents testing, support and education. All of this results in unsafe sex and more HIV.

I know you are pro condoms, but you accept a false pro abstinence rhetoric

[soulingling]

With that I would want to help with the Thai community especially the children

[soulingling]

You know what I am American Thai I don't care what people say about America that we are spoil at east we have freedom of speech an that's what makes us American!! Anyway I get it that we teach people how to use a condem but that doesn't always guarantee everything so f that n the comments about America at least we have a conscious feeling an take care of what we need too

[Ms. Lilithe Magdalene]

Brilliant!!

[Yadi Purnomo]

Distributing condoms mean creating new problems...Do you think having sex by wearing condom is guarantied 100 % save from contagious viruses ( HIV/AIDS ) ? Don't you realize that having sex with unlegalized couple is unmoral action ? ( In Syariah Islam it totally prohibited by ALLAH SWT ).So, Don't do a stupid propaganda....you are really the sprayer of HIV/AIDS....

[sneakerbabeful]

Sir, I applaud you and your country's great achievement.

[amt253]

"No wonder we have no side effects. It's been blessed."

Well, one step at a time, I guess.

[0atheist]

Mechai Viravaidya, I salute you...

[Gs Erdz]

Geography AS revision health section at its best!!

[Andreea Weed]

To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.