by Thu Giang
HA NOI — The five-year-old boy lost all trace of his previously shy look as he reached out to the performance on stage, a show of dazzling coloured lights at the Friendship Cultural Palace in Ha Noi.
A performance like this may be nothing new for city children, but for Nguyen Van Nam, an HIV-infected child from northern Thai Binh Province, it was like a fantastic dream.
It was the first time Nam, not his real name, had ever visited the capital city. He was here to enjoy International Children’s Day.It was the largest-ever celebration for HIV/AIDS children in Viet Nam.
Organised by the Ministry of Health, it was attended by about 500 infected children between the ages of five and 15 from 35 of the nation’s 64 cities and provinces.
Nam was born HIV-positive in 2003. One year later, his parents died of AIDS complications and he was left in the care of his grandparents, who are farmers.
Nam was too shy to talk about himself. His grandfather, who prefers to remain anonymous, simply wanted to say: "Thank you."
According to the Viet Nam Administrators for HIV/AIDS Control, there are more than 3,500 children under the age of 16 years living with HIV/AIDS in Viet Nam. Of these, about 1,100 lack health insurance.
Deputy director of the ministry’s Treatment Department, Le Thi Huong, said about 80 per cent of the cost of their insurance would be paid by the Viet Nam Insurance Corporation, while the rest would be sought from other sources, such as the Viet Nam Fund for Poor Children – or funds for children infected with HIV/AIDS.
Simple things like eating and playing are very meaningful for children such as Nam, but something is missing. Nam’s grandfather, who took him to the Children’s Day, said the boy was stigmatised for carrying the virus.
Kept out
He said that discrimination from teachers and parents had blocked his grandson’s way to school.
Nam’s health has recently improved, thanks to antiretroviral (ARV) drugs. However, no kindergarten in his area will enrol him.
"I know that the country’s law allows children infected with HIV/AIDS to study with normal children, so why is my grandson not welcome at school?
My wife and I are old. We worry about Nam’s future," said the grandfather. Nam is one of many children infected with HIV/AIDS who have been rejected by schools because of their health status.
A deputy principal of a Ha Noi-based pre-secondary school, who wants to remain anonymous, said she was willing to receive children infected with HIV/AIDS to her school as was required by Government’s regulation.
However, she said infected children would not receive special or separate treatment in class.
"If the children received special care, it would affect their integration. Besides, other children’s parents would boycott the kindergarten," she said.
Head of the Hai Duong Provincial Centre for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control, Doan Minh, who took three affected children to the special event, said direct talk between consultants and parents was very important because it would decide whether the infected children could study in school.
"Once I was asked by parents if I would bring my daughter into a classroom where there were children with HIV,"Minh said.
"Fear of a disease is very natural. I think if people understood it and knew about prevention, their worries would be dispelled."
Minh said his centre’s staff regularly visited localities to solve problems for children living with HIV/AIDS. It was frequently necessary to invoke the Government’s regulation that allows infected children to study together with normal children – and then organise direct talk with parents about HIV/AIDS.
"To prevent stigma and discrimination from the community, especially at school, it’s necessary to improve the knowledge of the local authorities, parents and especially the teachers, who have direct communication with parents," said Minh.
Nam’s road to education remains long, but his grandparents live in the hope that, one day, he will be able to go to school and be treated as a normal child. — VNS
