BANGKOK, Nov. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Thai negotiators involved in free trade agreement with the United States on Tuesday assured HIV/AIDS patients that Thailand will not allow the pact to hamper their future access to cheap anti-AIDS drugs.

    During an informal talk organized by the AIDS Access Foundationon Monday, AIDS activists and patients voiced their concerns that FTA could affect their access to low-cost anti-AIDS drugs.

    As the next round of talks scheduled for Dec. 13-17 is drawing near, worries have been grown over a push by the United States fora stricter protection of its intellectual property rights in Thai-US pact.

    The United States wants data on its drugs and other high-technology products being imported into Thailand to be protected for a longer period than allowed under World Trade Organization rules.

    It means Thailand may have to count on expensive imported anti-AIDS drugs longer than the global agreement requires.

    "Our position is clear, we will not sacrifice human health for trade benefits," Wiboonlasana Ruamraksa, deputy director-general of the Intellectual Property Department was quoted by Bangkok Postnewspaper as saying on Tuesday.

    She added Thailand would stick to the WTO framework as the basis for negotiations.

    Suchart Chongprasert, an official at the Food and Drug Administration and one of the negotiator, said the two countries had to find a balance between commercial interests and access to medicines in their talks.

    However, he insisted anything that affects access should not becompromised.

    Strongly opposing the five-year extension period on patent protection and strict control of data on medicines, Sureerat Treemarka, a member of the Thai Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, said the monopoly of US drugs firms will force the poor undeveloping countries to suffer all the more.

    Meanwhile, women and girls have become the hardest-hit group since some 70,000 of the 570,000 AIDS patient in Thailand were aged between 15-24, of which 60 percent were women.

    Many young people engaged in unprotected pre-marital sex without fully understanding of the potential consequences of theiractions, said Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan.

    She added nine percent girls aged 15-19 admitted to having sexual relations, while eight percent aged below 20 were forced into their first sexual experience.

    Since the deadly HIV/AIDS virus was first detected in 1984, there are about 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, half of whom are women aged 15-24.

    On this year's World AIDS day on Dec. 1 programs and activitiesunder the theme "Women, Girls and HIV/AIDS" will be held across the kingdom to draw more attention to women's AIDS problem. Enditem