Mechai Viravaidya

Who is Mechai Viravaidya?

Mechai Viravaidya is a former politician and activist in Thailand who has popularized condoms, family planning and AIDS awareness in Thailand. Since the 1970s, Mechai has been affectionately known as "Mr. Condom" in Thailand, and condoms have sometimes been referred to as "mechais" there. From the time that he began his work, the average number of children in Thai families has decreased from 7 to 1.5.

Mechai was born in Thailand to a Scottish mother and a Thai father, both of whom were doctors. They met whilst studying in Edinburgh. He is one of four children. His younger brother, Sunya, is the founder of the Pattaya International Hospital. One of his two sisters, Sumalee, was formerly a journalist in Bangkok. Mechai was educated at Geelong Grammar School and at the University of Melbourne in Australia. In the mid-1960s he returned to Thailand and started to work in family planning, emphasizing condoms. In 1973, he left government and founded a non-profit service organization, the Population and Community Development Association, to continue the work to improve the lives of the rural poor. Among other things, he held condom blowing contests for school children, encouraged taxi cab drivers to hand out condoms to their customers, and founded a restaurant chain called Cabbages and Condoms where condoms, rather than mints or fortune cookies, are given to customers together with the bill.