ASPH/CDC/TUC...

Often in the past week, I've felt like I did not understand what people around me were saying. Reasonable, right? I'm in Thailand - people speak Thai and I know only two Thai phrases thus far (hello and thank you).

Yet, most of the time, my confusion occurs around English speakers. There is, as I was repeatedly warned, another language of the CDC: acronyms. People throw them around like most people use articles (the, a, an). I've heard individuals speak entire sentences using acronyms. It's an impressive and daunting language that learning is almost as complicated as learning Thai.

In the interest of educating you (and saving my fingers from typing extra letters), here is a brief reference list of the acronyms I've come across so far.

CDC - US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (I know, this does not make sense - the acronym should be CDCP, but historically, the office was known as the "Communicable Disease Center.")
TUC - Thailand Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) - U.S. CDC Collaboration
ASPH - Association of Schools of Public Health (an American organization)
MSM - men who have sex with men (this removes the self-identifying terms such as homosexual that many people may not accept)
HIV - human immunodeficiency virus (the virus that causes AIDS)
AIDS - acquired immune deficiency syndrome
COGH - Center for Global Health (a part of CDC)
BKK - Bangkok
ARV - antiretroviral (drugs used to help people with HIV)
PrEP - pre-exposure prophylaxis (this abbreviation is used with HIV research - if you know about preventing mother to child transmission of HIV, it's the same idea except is now being studied in high-risk populations)
PEPFAR - President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (the first wave began under Bush, PEPFAR 2 has just been renewed under Obama - look it up on Wikipedia)
GAP - Global AIDS Program (funded mainly by PEPFAR)
DHAP - Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention (PEPFAR did not allow the funding to go to HIV/AIDS research, leading to a division of program implementation and research. You can come to your own conclusions about the logic behind that.)
TDY - Temporary duty assignment (Yes, I know the letters don't match up. I still don't know why but if you know, please comment.)

These are the ones I have come across this week (that I remember). I'm sure there will be more to add soon.