The project goal is to reduce transmission and vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and minimize the impact of the epidemic on individuals and the communities in Lang Son province through multi – sectoral programs link intervention efforts.The two specific objectives of the project are:
To reduce targeted households’ vulnerability to HIV/AIDS infection and transmission
To empower ethnic households including families affected by HIV in the five selected communes in Lang Son township and Cao Loc district to improve the quality of their lives through health, economic and social uplift
Project Background
Lang
Son is a mountainous province in the northern part of Viet Nam with 85% of its
residents belonging to minority ethnic groups. The province is experiencing a
rapid economic development, resulting in improving living standards of local
population. However, this development is not shared evenly across the province,
leaving many people, particularly ethnic minority groups,in difficult
circumstances. The province also faces a number of social and health challenges
including drug smuggling, women trafficking and drug abuse among youth and
migrants.
The
purpose of this project was to reduce transmission and vulnerability to HIV/AIDS
and minimize the impact of the epidemic on individuals and the communities in
Lang Son province through multi – sectoral programs link intervention efforts.
It focused on building capacity of ethnic households to respond to HIV
epidemic. This project was informed by a formative research that COHED in
partnership with Lang Son Provincial Health Service conducted in 2004, which
provided insight understanding of various aspects of targeted ethnic households
and defined appropriate intervention activities that respond to local
prioritized needs. The project was funded by The Rockefeller
Foundation/Southeast Asia Regional Office with the approved budget of 181,400
USD. It began in October 2005 and ended in February 2008
Project
Goals and Objectives
The
project goal is to reduce transmission and vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and
minimize the impact of the epidemic on individuals and the communities in Lang
Son province through multi – sectoral programs link intervention efforts.The
two specific objectives of the project are:
- To reduce targeted households’
vulnerability to HIV/AIDS infection and transmission - To empower ethnic households
including families affected by HIV in the five selected communes in Lang
Son township and Cao Loc district to improve the quality of their lives
through health, economic and social uplift
Highlights
of Activities and Achievements
- Established and built capacity
for two art-based health education groups with participation of 23 active
and enthusiastic members to implement health education activities in their
communes. - Established and supported the
operation of two self-help groups for PLHIV with engagement and support
from local health care workers. These core members received the basic and
intensive training on HIV/AIDS related home-care and support, including
ARV treatment and counseling skills, and home-care kits and supplies. - Established and supported the
operation of the first ever provincial network for HIV positive women to
respond to the urgent need of psycho-social support and linkage to
existing health care services. The network consists of 4 sub-clubs located
in remote districts with participation of 195 active members, both men and
women. Apart from peer support and empowerment for HIV positive women, 14
households affected by HIVreceived seed money forhusbandry and livestock
raising. - Provided home- based care and
support to 195 PLHIV, 260 family member and 58 children affected by HIV.
The project also referred 131 clients for TB testing, provided ART
adherence support to 67 PLHIV, and referred 161 individuals to VCT. - Establishing the pilot TB/HIV
care and support model.The TB prevention for HIV infected clients and TB
treatment support for TB/HIV patients - Improved knowledge and
expertise of local people on Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS through
school-based and community-based communication.Results of audience-tracked
forms showed significant improvement in audience’s understanding and
perception towards PLHIV - Built capacity for ethnic poor
households to improve their household economy through training courses on
flower planting and livestock raising.
“Thanks
to the seed money from the project, we are now raising 8 pigs and about 30
chickens. It is expected to earn more than 2000.000 million VND after 3 months
from selling chickens, in which 1 000.000 VND will be the net profit” (A
household affected by HIV/AIDS said).
Built capacity for grassroots level health
professionals and HIV/AIDS workers and project stakeholders through
refresher-training on HIV/AIDS and Reproductive health for educational staff at
grass-roots levels, establishment of community volunteer network, training on
TB/HIV for communal health workers, and an exchange visit to HIV/AIDS
prevention, care and support model in Khanh Hoa
