HHD and Deutsche Bank Bring HIV/AIDS Project into Laos

The success of our recent HIV/AIDS work in Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam has led the funder, Deutsche Bank Asia Foundation, to give us the green light to expand the project into Laos.

As in the other countries, project staff in Laos will work closely with marginalized groups to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. “The project will be tailored to the culture and specific needs of the Akha, an ethnic minority group in the districts of Muang Sing and Muang Long, Luang Namtha province, in the northern part of Laos,” says Mariola Chrostowska, Regional Project Coordinator. It will help the people create prevention messages in their local language.

In February, Chrostowka, with colleagues of partner organizations, traveled to this remote area to conduct a needs assessment. They interviewed many Akha people about their customs, courting practices, STD prevalence, and general health conditions in order to determine their HIV risk and design a culturally appropriate prevention strategy.

Although there has been almost no data on HIV/AIDS prevalence among the Akha, HHD staff found several indicators that this population is at great risk of HIV. The rate of other STDs is high, and people have very little knowledge about HIV/AIDS.

Another factor increasing the HIV risk was the development of the all-weather highway 17B in the late 1990s. Until that time the Akha were relatively isolated from the rest of the country and the region. Increased mobility with the highway has created a complex mix of cultural, political, and economic changes. Large numbers of people from surrounding countries, where the rates of HIV are high, are now traveling into or through the Sing and Long districts and mixing with the Akha people. They include traders, truck drivers, construction workers, and investors from China, Thailand, and other parts of Laos, who due to their mobile nature are more prone to be HIV carriers.

To help control the spread of HIV among the Akha, HHD staff developed four HIV prevention strategies customized for this group:

• Akha village authorities will be trained and assisted to promote behaviors that help protect the people in their communities from HIV.
  
  
• Peer educators will reach the young men and women in their own and neighboring villages with HIV/STD information.
  
  
• An educational video and radio cassettes will be produced locally and involve youth in ethnic schools and villages, as well as theater groups.
  
  
• During the project’s final nine months, a mobile team including peer educators will create a multi-media campaign in 40 villages that will include showing the video and leading activities, such as games and competitions, to increase awareness of HIV/AIDS and familiarity with condom use.
  

The prevention program will be strengthened by providing services to treat people who already have STDs.

“Engaging local community members in creating new media in their local language is what is most exciting about this new work,” says Chrostowska. “The materials produced will be more culturally relevant for the Akha than any materials we could have brought in from the outside and should therefore have a much stronger impact.”

Another important feature of the project according to Chrostowska is that “it is not about forcing a change in the Akha culture, but rather about giving the community knowledge to see how their traditional practices and location now make them more vulnerable to HIV and other STDs. Working closely with community leaders, we will suggest changes and help them implement new strategies to reduce their risk. Our hope is that this will lead to a significant reduction in the risk of HIV and other STDs for the Akha people.”