Background Issues

Vietnam and HIV/AIDS
Mali, Migration and Child Labor
Ethnic conflict in Bosnia

Vietnam and HIV/AIDS (continued)

Although the committee was restructured in 2003, its brief existence reinforced the public notion that the disease was a symptom of social evil. Accordingly, speaking about sexual matters and HIV is taboo, creating a setting where education about HIV/AIDS, even if available, is culturally unacceptable. Such lack of education fosters its spread.

Incomplete knowledge often leads to an unfounded fear of infection through casual contact. The associated stigma and discrimination prevents individuals from getting tested and treated. This calls into question the original low estimates of people living with HIV/AIDS. As a result of the stigma, people with HIV are often isolated from their homes and communities. The majority of Vietnamese society believes that those with the disease deserve it, even if it was contracted unknowingly from a partner or parent involved in "social evils."

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