VietNamNet Bridge – Though nearly 30 people in this land die every year by HIV/AIDS, local people live spontaneously, paying no attention to this disease.



Shivering stories

Before visiting mountainous hamlets in Dong Van commune, in the central province of Nghe An, correspondents were advised to not go there because almost all people in these villages have contracted HIV.

Understanding thoroughly about this disease, but correspondents were still afraid to penetrate that land, which is called ‘the land of HIV.’ A local official said that without the assistance of police, it would be very difficult to meet with HIV carriers. Asking some local officials and even police officers, they all said that they did not know about the specific number of HIV carriers there.

Mr. Vi Thanh Ha, vice chief of the Dong Van commune health station, said that in 2010 he received a list of 52 new HIV carriers, sent by testing centers. In January 2011, 13 more patients were detected after a group of doctors from the provincial hospital visited the commune. Since then, there has been no doctors visiting the commune so no more patient has been defined.

“I’m sure that the real number of HIV carriers is higher because many women whose their husbands died of HIV have not performed tests and they did not pay attention in this disease,” Ha said.



Ha showed correspondent a long list of people who died of HIV/AIDS in this commune. In 2010-2011, over 20 people in the commune died of HIV/AIDS. There is no official statistics for 2012 yet but so far, the number of victims of HIV is at lest ten.

“There is a family that all members were dead of HIV, except for the first daughter who is a fifth-grade student,” Ha said.

“In 2011, Mr. L.V.D in Huoi Muong hamlet was diagnosed to contract AIDS and died short after that. In late 2011, his two-year-old boy was dead. In early 2012, his wife also died. Only their first daughter, LTV, 12, is living with her grandfather,” he added.

According to Ha, there is a family that the father and his son were dead just two days from each other, by AIDS. There is another family where two brothers are dying of AIDS. Most of them contracted HIV/AIDS from drug injection.

Ha’s stories stunned correspondents by the fierceness of the HIV/AIDS storm in this mountainous commune, the poorest commune of Nghe An province. Most of HIV carriers were born in the 80s and 90s.

So naïve with HIV/AIDS



While the HIV storm in this land worries officials, HIV carriers and their relatives do not mind about this disease.

The house of Ms. H, 21, in Na Chao hamlet is empty because two nearly-broken beds are the only furniture in the house. H’s husband and her father-in-law died of HIV/AIDS barely two days from each other in late April 2012. H heard that her husband was killed by AIDS but she knew nothing about this disease.

H’s husband was a senior drug addict. Sharing needles with other addicts, he contracted HIV. When the man was informed of the disease, his son was one year old. The couple knew that HIV is a scary disease but they did not know how it is scary so they did not know how to avoid it.

The man died only one month after he decided to give up drugs. Two days later, his father who was a drug addict, also died of HIV.

Asking H about AIDS, she only smile and shook her head. Asking her whether she was afraid of catching the disease from her husband, she also shook her head. After being explained for a while about the disease, she seemed to understand a little about the matter. She said she would take her son to hospital for testing for both but after that she hesitated, saying that she did not have money yet.

Living H’s house, correspondents went to Mr. D, in the same hamlet. At the age of 23 but D looked like an old man. He lied on the bed, showing his bony body and breathed heavily when correspondents visited him.

The man rubbed his eyes and sat up. “I’m not a drug addict. I’ve got just several injections. He did not know about HIV/AIDS and how it is transmitted, so he still had sex with his wife without using condoms.

This man’s wife, 20, was also naïve like her husband. She has never used condoms though she heard that the so-called AIDS is very scary. Her younger brother was on the last days in his life, with HIV/AIDS, besides his wife and two children. The death was very close to them but people in this hamlet did not care about this disease.

Mr. Binh, a ranger, said that local people thought that AIDS is a worm that gets into their stomach and hurts them so they drank alcohol to kill “AIDS worm.”



A female official who is in charge of women’s affairs in Dong Van commune said some women whose husbands had died of AIDS lived with other men after that.

Among HIV carriers who correspondents met with, only Ms. T cried and worried about the fate of herself and her children.

T was born in 1981 but she looked like a 50-year-old woman. Her dirty black face was wet with sweat because she had just carried a big bundle of firewood from the mountain. Since her husband died, she had to take care of everything.

“He went to a hospital in Nghia Dan for examination. Doctors said that he caught HIV. I only knew it from his brothers. He was dead already. I’m very scared. I’m afraid to contract that disease from him. I’m also afraid that my son is also infected but I do not have money to make tests. It is pity if my son contracts AIDS but if only I is infected, who will take care of my son in the future…” Her question was not answered.

Thu Ha