Her name is Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai. She is 50 now and lives in An Hoa village of Long Thanh district in Dong Nai province. She is now an active HIV/AIDS propagandist in the locality.
 |
| Mrs. Mai (L) receives injection needles from commune’s health station |
Her name is Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai. She is 50 now and lives in An Hoa
She often goes to cementaries every two days to collect used needles and distribute clean needles and other material for drug addicts. Besides, she is trying to find ways to approach prostitutes to educate knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases and safe ways to use condom. Her objective is to reach drug addicts and bar girls in the village to increase their awareness and understanding about HIV/AIDS. She helped distribute condoms to prostitutes and sex workers in the village.
Initially, she encountered strong opposition from the family but now, Mai’s family supports and encourages her to keep going because they fully understand her purpose.
During the past three years, Mrs. Mai has made significant contributions to reduce HIV infection rate in the commune. Presently, An Hoa commune has 154 drug addicts and prostitutes, including 48 HIV-infected people. Most of them were infected before the year of 2006, the number of new HIV infections are not remarkable because almost of drug addicts and prostitutes were provided with the basic knowledge of HIV/AIDS preventing, free clean injection needles and condoms. Especially, some prostitutes quit their trade after receiving Mai’s advices.
Reported by P.L
