by Hang Nguyen
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Lo A Man (first right), who is living with HIV, speaks to visitors in his house in the northern province of Dien Bien. — VNS Photo Hang Nguyen |
DIEN BIEN — Lo A Man, a 23-year-old ethnic Thai man who lives in Huoi Ron Village, in Dien Bien District's Nua Ngam Commune didn't realise he was infected with the HIV virus until his wife gave birth to twins.
The couple, whose names have been changed in this report, had a routine health check ahead of the birth, only to find that they were both infected.
"When I was a child, my parents could not afford the money to send me to school so I was not able to read, I also did not know what HIV/AIDS was," says Man.
At the age of 15, Man left his home to work as a builder in nearby provinces. Talking on how he may have contracted AIDS, he says he once joined a party with his friends, got drunk and slept with a sex worker.
"If I knew I was infected with HIV, I would not have married," he says. "Now I just hope that my babies will not be infected as well."
His wife, Luong Thi Dam, 25, says that despite having AIDS, she and her husband have been lucky to avoid much of the discrimination that most AIDS victims struggle with.
"Although our neighbours know my husband and I are infected, they do not treat us any differently," she says.
"We felt consoled by this."
Man's story is a common one in the north-western mountainous province of Dien Bien, situated about 500 kilometres from Ha Noi.
The province has recently become a ‘hot spot' for drug trafficking and sex workers, and AIDS is spreading throughout local communities.
Vu Hai Hung, deputy director of the provincial HIV/AIDS Prevention Centre says the main reasons for the rapid spread of the disease are men having sex with prostitutes without using condoms as well as the sharing of needles among drug users.
Hung said a lack of awareness among local residents about the danger of AIDS was also a factor.
Statistics from the provincial Health Department show that the number of local residents infected with HIV/AIDS has been steadily rising since 2005.
Dien Bien Province is now one of the country's most troubling AIDS hot spots.
In a province with a population of 500,000, about 599 people out of every 100,000 are infected with AIDS, which is double the national rate.
The latest statistics from the provincial HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Centre show that on average one person dies from AIDS every two days, as many as 120 are infected with HIV each month, and more than 85 per cent of those infected with HIV are between 20 to 39 years of age.
For the past several months, Man's family has received support from doctors at the Centre's HIV/AIDS Adult Outpatient Clinic.
He has to visit the clinic in Dien Bien Phu City, about 20 kilometres from his house, every week to get anti-retroviral drugs for him and his wife and milk for his baby twins.
"Sometimes during rainy days, I did not go to the clinic because it's so far away from my house," Man says. "If only it wasn't so far."
Doctor Lo Thi To Khuyen, head of the clinic says mothers infected with AIDS should not breast feed their babies.
"Since last August, we have treated 20 pregnant women infected with HIV/AIDS in an attempt to prevent mother-to-child transmission," he says.
However, Khuyen says the clinic only treats a small percentage of the total number of people living with AIDS in the province.
"The clinic just meets a small fraction of the 900 cases, the cumulative total of pregnant women infected with HIV in the province," she says.
Nguyen Thi Thuy, a communications officer from the provincial HIV/AIDS Prevention Centre, says people living far from the clinic cannot afford regular visits.
"An inconvenient transport system and the great distances between villages and clinics or health centres are the main factors preventing local residents from getting health services," says Thuy. — VNS
