Children living with HIV
HIV has become an increasing problem in Viet Nam. Mothers can pass the infection on to children and the disease is often clinically silent for many years. These families are difficult to locate because HIV has a significant social stigma in rural Viet Nam. Families are often shunned and children are unable to attend school (when its discovered that a child in school has HIV, other parents will often keep their children at home). Because of this stigma, families often move around regularly and wont seek medical care (or often will not seek HIV testing of their children). We work with families to help them both with the financial impact of not being able to have a steady job (and having one or both parents sick and dying of HIV) and the associated social stigma by working on community and school education. We support the children to receive medication for their disease and to travel to Ho Chi Minh for treatment when necessary. We have sent some of our children to an orphanage in Ho Chi Minh that specializes in children with HIV. Finally, we have gatherings of our families and children for parties and celebrations. This is a great chance for these families to safely come out of “hiding” and meet other afflicted families and share experiences. It has proven to be a nice form of group therapy and the kids love it.
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Cartoonised for the children's anonymity.
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