VietNamNet Bridge – Nearly 1,600 female partners of drug users in Ha Noi have been protected from HIV infection thanks to a three-year project that ends this month.

The project was implemented by the Supporting Community Development Initiatives (SCDI) with sponsorship from USAID.

Its aim was to maintain a negative HIV situation for women with sexual partners who used drugs.

"The project was the first of its kind in Viet Nam," said SCDI director Khuat Thi Hai Oanh.

A survey of SCDI in HCM City in 2011 showed that up to 70 per cent of sexual partners of drug users did not know their partners were living with HIV.

It was found that most male partners hid their HIV infection from their female partners.

A report said that of 1,600 women involved in the project, only four were found to be infected after three years.

The project established peer groups and networks that offered consulting services and provided condoms.

"We are successful in changing the lives of those women who used to let things drift. Now they are trained in skills to help their partners and protect themselves from HIV infection," said Oanh.

The project model will now be used in northwestern Dien Bien Province with support from the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News