US embassy cable - 05HANOI2864

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 002864 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PHUM, ETRD, EINV, ECON, VM, HIV/AIDS, TIP 
SUBJECT: AMB VISITS QUANH NINH HIV/AIDS, TIP, DISABILITY 
EDUCATION PROJECTS 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: The Ambassador recently inspected several 
successful U.S.-funded aid projects in Quang Ninh Province. 
While demonstrating what can be achieved with only a modest 
investment of aid money, the trip also brought to light 
serious problems for people living with HIV/AIDS, and for 
the Vietnamese education system. End Summary. 
 
2. (SBU) During his October 17-19 visit to Quang Ninh 
Province, the Ambassador visited a USAID-funded people 
living with HIV/AIDS support groups in urban Halong and in a 
rural district outside the city; a USAID-funded disability 
education program in a rural school; and a PRM-funded 
counter trafficking-in-persons project in downtown Halong. 
In addition, the Ambassador raised various issues related to 
these projects during his meeting with the provincial 
People's Committee Vice Chairwoman and other officials. 
 
HIV/AIDS - Rural Support Project 
-------------------------------- 
 
3. (SBU) On October 18, the Ambassador visited the Bright 
Futures Group, a recently concluded nine-month project 
supported by USAID through the Communities Responding to the 
HIV/AIDS Epidemic (CORE) Initiative.  The program was 
founded in August 2004 as a support group for HIV-infected 
people in Quang Ninh's Van Don District.  The CORE 
Initiative works in collaboration with CARE Vietnam, an 
international NGO that promotes the well being of people who 
lack access to resources and influence over decisions that 
affect their lives.  The six founding members of Bright 
Futures Group are all wives of men who contracted HIV/AIDS 
through intravenous drug use or sex with prostitutes.  All 
six women are themselves HIV positive, and all but one are 
now widows.  The founders, most of whom also have HIV 
positive children or have lost children to the disease, now 
act as the executive board for the one hundred and nineteen 
members of the group.  Members include HIV positive 
individuals (who have all pledged not to use drugs or to act 
as sex workers), children of infected parents and relatives 
of HIV victims.  Ninety-eight percent of the members have 
tested positive. The group works to expand its membership 
through self-support and social activities, eliminate 
discrimination against AIDS victims and train HIV positive 
people and their families on how to live with the disease 
and how to live more hopeful lives.  The group also conducts 
sympathy calls on victims in advanced stages of AIDS. 
 
4. (SBU) Bui Thi Mi Hanh, leader of the Bright Futures 
Group, explained that, although Quang Ninh Province has one 
of the highest percentages of HIV positive people in 
Vietnam, when the group first organized less than a year 
ago, no one in Van Don district had any idea what HIV/AIDS 
actually is, how it can be prevented or how it can be 
treated.  However, the group has educated a number of people 
in the district about HIV prevention and care, and members 
feel their lives have changed profoundly because of the 
group's support network.  The group has also successfully 
established connections with a network of other support 
groups in northern Vietnam, and Quang Ninh Province 
specifically.  However, Hanh noted that only two HIV 
positive members are currently receiving Anti-Retroviral 
(ARV) medications from the state medical system.  Of the 
eighty-two children associated with the group, three are 
known to be HIV-positive; however, most have not been 
tested, as their families cannot afford to pay for tests. 
Furthermore, few of the members can find work because they 
are HIV positive and their children have faced 
discrimination at school.  Hanh said that with the recent 
conclusion of the Bright Futures Group USD 30,000 grant, the 
members are worried that they won't be able to support more 
activities and hope that the project will be given more 
funding.  The Ambassador explained that the Embassy has only 
limited funds available through the PEPFAR program and all 
grants like the Bright Futures Group are only meant as seed 
money to get projects going.  The number one U.S. priority 
for PEPFAR in Vietnam is to subsidize ARV medications for as 
many HIV positive people as possible, so most additional 
money will not be available for groups like theirs. 
However, the Ambassador promised to try to find more funding 
for the Bright Futures group. 
 
HIV/AIDS - Urban Support Project 
-------------------------------- 
 
5. (SBU) On October 19, the Ambassador visited the Sympathy 
Club, another USAID CORE Initiative program working with 
CARE Vietnam.  The group in Halong City is a social 
organization that recruits and organizes activities for 
people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS, including HIV 
infected people, their parents, spouses and friends. Members 
take part in discussions, share support strategies and help 
each other to meet their basic emotional, social and other 
material needs.  The Club's 1,038 members (which includes 
some members of the Bright Futures Group), also work to 
reduce social stigma and discrimination against people 
living with AIDS.  Vu Thi Yen, the club's founder and 
leader, explained that she established the Sympathy Club in 
1999 with 25 other members, in order to "increase awareness 
of HIV/AIDS and to reduce social stigma."  In addition to 
USAID and CARE Vietnam support, the club has also received 
funding from the local government.  However, most HIV- 
positive members of the club do not receive ARV medications; 
approximately five percent of those needing drugs receive 
them.  The club's main focus at present is the establishment 
of a center for children orphaned by AIDS.  The Club is 
seeking local funding and individual donations to renovate a 
3,000 square meter facility for this purpose.  Yen concluded 
by asking for continued U.S. funding for the club.  As with 
the Bright Futures Group, the Ambassador noted that our 
primary focus is subsidizing ARV medication, but promised he 
would try to find more funding for the Sympathy Club. 
 
Counter Trafficking-in-Persons 
------------------------------ 
 
6. (SBU) On October 18, the Ambassador visited a counter 
trafficking-in-persons project run by International 
Organization for Migration (IOM) in downtown Halong.  The 
project received USD 155,000 from PRM, and the Embassy made 
a supplemental donation of $4,000 from PAS funding to 
support English-language training within the project.  The 
six-month residential vocational training program works to 
protect populations most vulnerable to trafficking in this 
"hotspot" province, focusing on at-risk women, including 
victims of domestic violence, the very poor, single mothers 
and returned "survivors of trafficking."   IOM hopes to 
protect victims and potential victims by providing positive 
alternatives to being trafficked.  Two groups of 
participants receive health and psychological care and 
vocational training, followed by an internship placement in 
the Halong tourism industry.  The Ambassador inspected the 
training facility, interviewed participants and observed a 
cooking class.  IOM Chief of Mission Andrew Bruce explained 
that the project has been well received by the Halong 
Women's Union, which has donated facilities and assistants 
for the project.  The Women's Union is planning to develop 
its own projects following IOM's model.  Other NGOs have 
also studied the project to guide their own efforts in Quang 
Ninh.  Many participants stated that they feel fortunate to 
learn new lifeskills, particularly professional cooking and 
facility with English.  The women (mainly between the ages 
of 14 and 22) also noted with pleasure the support network 
and friendships they were developing through the program. 
Bruce said that IOM is currently trying to lower its costs 
from $3,000 a participant in order to enroll more women. 
 
Disability Education 
-------------------- 
 
7. (SBU) On October 19, the Ambassador visited Minh Than 
Primary School in the rural district of Yen Hung outside 
Halong city.  Since 1998, Catholic Relief Service (CRS) has 
run a USAID-funded program to expand community support for 
children with disabilities in this district.  Minh Than 
school is considered a model for the rest of the project. 
CRS trains teachers in skills and methods for teaching 
disabled children in an inclusive education setting. 
Children with disabilities study in the same classroom as 
non-disabled children.  CRS also works with the community to 
ensure they provide social support to children with 
disabilities.  (NOTE:  There is a widespread Vietnamese 
belief that children with disabilities are born to families 
who did something wrong in their previous life, and are 
therefore shunned by the community.  End Note.)  CRS has 
trained 650 teachers in Yen Hung District, and 371 children 
with disabilities have enrolled in school.  At Minh Than 
School, the Ambassador met with teachers and students in 
first-, third-, and fifth-grade classes. 
 
8. (SBU) Minh Than School Principal Le Sy Hoa explained that 
he oversees a student body of eight hundred and seventy-five 
students, including six disabled students.  The present 
group of disabled children is actually the smallest since 
the program began, although at one time there were thirty- 
four enrolled in the school.  The number of disabled 
children had fallen because a number of students "had been 
cured of their disability," while others had graduated and 
moved on.  Better family planning had reduced the number of 
congenitally disabled children in the local population.  The 
principal explained that since 2002 the student body was 
split between full-time students who participated in seven 
classes a day, and half-time students who only received five 
lessons.  The five hundred and forty-two full time students 
must pay enrollment fees of 25,000 VND (approximately USD 
1.5) per month.  While congratulating Yen Hung School 
District and CRS for their success in training teachers in 
educating students with disabilities, the Ambassador 
expressed strong concern that not all students in Yen Hung 
received a full education. 
 
Local Government Recognition 
---------------------------- 
 
9. (SBU) At the beginning of his visit, the Ambassador met 
with Vice Chairwoman Nhu Thi Lien of the Quang Ninh People's 
Committee.  In addition to other issues reported septels, 
the Ambassador observed that there are a large number of USG- 
funded development projects in the province.  Noting that 
many of these projects deal with reducing social stigmas, 
the Ambassador exhorted the Vice Chairwoman and other senior 
members of the provincial government to actively and 
publicly visit and interact with project participants to 
help raise public awareness and reduce discrimination 
against people with HIV/AIDS, victims of trafficking and 
people with disabilities.  Lien agreed that these are 
important issues to deal with and expressed the hope that 
more international NGOs would come to Quang Ninh to help the 
local government reduce these problems. 
 
10. (SBU) Comment:  These four excellent USG projects 
clearly demonstrate what can be achieved with only a modest 
investment of aid money.  The USAID CORE projects have meant 
an extraordinary life change for many people coping with 
HIV/AIDS.  IOM's project has already provided forty young 
women with a new chance at life.  CRS has given 
opportunities to hundreds of children who would have been 
written off by society.  On the other hand, the Ambassador's 
visit also brought to light some serious concerns.  HIV/AIDS 
patients are largely destitute in Quang Ninh, and the great 
majority does not receive vital medication.  Furthermore, 
there may be more behind the reduction in the number of 
disabled students studying in Yen Hung than the reasons 
given by the Principal.  It is also deeply worrying that 
almost a third of the student body is not receiving a full 
education.  The Embassy will continue to address these 
problems by raising our concerns with local authorities and 
encouraging them to make efforts to raise public awareness 
of HIV/AIDs, trafficking-in-persons and the necessity of a 
full education for all Vietnamese children.  End Comment. 
 
BOARDMAN