Inter Press Service - June 21, 2001
Tran Dinh Thanh Lam

Ha knows what to say to sex workers, since she used to be one herself. She is also HIV-positive. "At first, I was totally in despair when doctors told me that I had HIV," Ha recalls. Her family, however, supported her, and helped her with medicines.

It was during one treatment session at the Ho Chi Minh City Institute of Traditional Medicine that she happened to find out about an organisation that helps people with HIV. Ha went to the "Hope Cafe Club", something that changed her life totally.

The HIV Hope Cafe Club is an organisation that aims to spread awareness about the pandemic, giving out free literature and handing out condoms to youngsters in this southern Vietnamese city.

Its social workers also help people living with HIV regain hope and take the right precautions so as not to transmit the disease to members of their families.

Some people with HIV, like Nguyen Thi Ha, have taken to the cause and become social workers themselves. In Ha's case, she volunteered to take part in a campaign mobilising sex workers to use condoms. Each night, Ha goes to dark street corners and speaks to sex workers.

"I tell them my story, calling on them to be more cautious, to use a condom," Ha says. She however reckons that she has had little success so far. "The girls do not dare to ask clients to use condoms. They only obey the clients' initiatives," Ha says.

A World Bank study says the risky sexual behaviour often puts people at risk of getting HIV in Vietnam. Growing intravenous drug use also fuels the spread of the pandemic.

According to the AIDS Prevention National Committee, by the year 2005, Vietnam could have about 190,000 cases of HIV. Of this number, more than 50,000 are projected to develop into AIDS.

The committee said that on average, from 12,000 to 18,000 people are reported to get infected with HIV each year. While HIV-positive and AIDS cases are found in all of Vietnam's 61 provinces, most are in Ho Chi Minh City, Quang Ninh, Hanoi and Hai Phong in the north, and An Giang in the south.

Experts say that meantime, sex education in schools is limited, so social workers have set up places where young people can freely and anonymously get information, particularly regarding the relationship between sex and HIV/AIDS. Following the success of the innovative approach behind the 'Hope' cafe, Hanoi has opened its own 'Cafe of Love' to raise awareness among the capital's young people about safe sex and HIV/AIDS.

Hanoi has also had creative means like fashion and music extravaganzas to spread anti-AIDS messages, distributing free condoms and information leaflets on how one can -- and cannot -- get HIV.

Experts say the biggest problem in Vietnam is dispelling the commonly held belief that only certain groups of people can get HIV. "People still think that it is only sex workers and drug users who get AIDS," says Dr Ngo Thi Khanh from Care International.

"Particularly, people in rural areas think that if they live a traditional life then they are not at risk," she adds.

This is why rural areas are also highly exposed to the pandemic. Many rural girls come to the cities looking for work, develop drug habits, and turn to prostitution to support the habit.

Without any knowledge about safe sex, HIV and AIDS, they become vulnerable to getting the disease. Educating rural people about HIV/AIDS and winning the community's support to fight it has thus become a crucial issue.

When the head of the communal health clinic in Vu Tay village in the northern province of Thai Binh, Nguyen Van Son, found out that Tran Van Van was the first person to test HIV-positive in the village, he sought him out and offered him support and advice.

Son managed to persuade Van's friends, those who had shared syringes with him in their drug-use sessions, to take the HIV tests. Twenty-eight people were HIV- positive. Of these, one has since died and three others have developed AIDS. Son, who keeps track of people with HIV/AIDS, helps them with regular medical care.

In Central Nghe An province, Nguyen Dinh, his wife and two daughters set up a non-profit variety band, performing in remote areas to gain public awareness about family planning, safe sex and HIV/AIDS.

Dinh, a former cultural and information official, and his wife Le Thi Xuan, a former teacher, usually compose songs, and write plays to promote the concept of a happy family along with safe sex, and HIV/AIDS prevention.

There is not much entertainment in Nghe An's mountainous and remote areas, so performances by Dinh's family soon became an popular habit for local residents. Dinh's message is clear -- family planning and safe sex can help people offer their children better lives. Says Dinh: "Many people come to us for information and advice." (END/IPS/ap-he-dv/tdtl/js/01)

* Editors Advisory. This is one in a series of IPS features previewing the United Nations Special Session on AIDS, to be held in New York June 25-27. It is the first-ever Special Session devoted to a single disease.

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