ABSTRACT
Apapan walked down the production line for energy drinks at the WinThai plant in Bangkok after the management meeting. Coconut and peach essence tweaked her nose. She felt tired. She took an energy drink from the managers’ fridge and went upstairs to her offi ce. “We have some complex decisions to make, Mechai; take a Buffalo Power to drink and come to my offi ce: we need all the help we can get!” she called to her assistant, glancing at the water buffalo’s head on the drink can. She had called this morning’s management meeting to discuss the recent rise of HIV/AIDS cases again in Thailand-and the concomitant rise in awareness that Thai businesses were not doing much to fi ght the epidemic. The Thailand Business Coalition on AIDS contacted her recently for a survey they were conducting with the International Labor Organization.1 The researcher had asked what WinThai was doing about HIV/AIDS. Specifi cally, the researcher had asked Apapan whether WinThai, like half of all Thai businesses,2 forced its employees to take HIV tests before they were hired or given a promotion. Apapan had been embarrassed to admit that she did not know the answer to that question. Perhaps the human resources director did that as a matter of policy. On other fronts, HIV/AIDS wasn’t even on the radar screen.
