How The Condom King Made It Normal To Talk About Birth Control

This is the condom King

But his birth name is Mechai Viravaidya, he’s a politician and activist from Thailand.

In the 1970s Mechai realised that Thailand needed to reduce its population. The average family had 7 children, many of them were living in poverty.

There were two problems:

1. Most people didn’t have (or know about) basic birth control

2. People were uncomfortable talking about sex.

Mechai had a simple idea: If we could make people more comfortable talking about birth control they might be more likely to use them.

And so Mechai started one of the most amazing educational campaigns of all time.

Mechai and his team travelled around Thailand to destigmatize talking about birth control.

Here are some of the things they did:

They held condom-blowing competitions

They got a monk to bless condoms (this image went viral)

Condoms became hair bands, clothing and phone carriers (”for the rainy season”).

Taxi Drivers gave out condoms

Police Officers gave out condoms (he called it the cop and rubber program)

Aaaaand all of this worked!

Families went from having an average of 7 children to 1.5.

Then AIDS hit Thailand.

So Mechai and his team adjusted and started educating people about AIDS. They taught journalists, teachers, primary school students and businesses (“sick staff don’t work, dead customers don’t buy”) how AIDS spreads and how to protect yourself.

They even had help from Captain condom

What Happened?

Between 1991 - 2003

• New HIV /AIDS infections dropped by 90%

• It’s estimated they saved 7.7 million lives

The World Bank called Mechai’s campaign “one of the most successful and effective family planning programs in the world.”

For that reason, Mechai Viravaidya is very much a problem solver.

Cheers,

p.s. When people in Thailand want a condom, they don’t say “Can I have a condom”, they ask for a “Mechai”. If that’s not a success I don’t know what is.

Sources

• How Mr. Condom made Thailand a better place

• Bill Gates’s Heroes in the Field: Mechai Viravaidya