Sao Va Group is named after the most beautiful waterfall in Que Phong district (Nghe An). In September 2021, the group was officially established with the support of the Center for Supporting Community Development Initiatives (SCDI).
The group has 9 members, besides the leader Lang Chung Hien, 8 people were drug addicts, of which 7 people are suffering from the disease of the century.
They once thought their lives were over, but now they have found a new purpose in life - to awaken people in the same situation with their stories, so that HIV patients in this poor district can be treated and live a healthy life.
The mission of Sao Va group members is to find ways to approach high-risk people, encourage them to get tested, take Methadone to stop drug addiction or receive ARV treatment when confirmed to be HIV-infected.
Mr. Lang Chung Hien (officer of Que Phong District Medical Center) - leader of Sao Va group - shared: "The members of the group are Thai ethnic people. With the advantage of being people in the same situation and fluent in the language, it is easier for them to approach and communicate with at-risk groups in the area than medical staff.
The special feature of Que Phong district is its wide, scattered terrain, with "hot spots" concentrated in remote villages that are difficult to travel to. However, with enthusiasm and responsibility, all members have overcome difficulties and completed their work well.
As of October, 32 new cases of infection were detected in the district, of which 18 were detected by members of the group, who mobilized testing and supported care and treatment.
Notably, although the services provided are completely free, high-risk people or people infected with HIV are identified as "customers" of the group.
With the goal of serving and providing the best services in both health and psychology, considering people with HIV as customers has helped reduce the self-esteem of "HIV-infected" people and reduce stigma in the community.
At present, the group is taking care of 275 active clients and 375 traditional clients. For active clients, group members meet once a month to communicate and encourage them to take Methadol to quit drug addiction and enter the ARV treatment program or continue ARV treatment if they stop treatment for some reason.
For traditional customers, every 3 months, the members in charge of the area will approach them once to test and provide items such as condoms, syringes and communicate to improve self-protection knowledge for themselves and those around them.
While for other service providers, the more customers the better, for Sao Va members, the fewer customers the happier. Detecting HIV infections in the community is extremely important, helping to prevent the spread of this disease of the century.
But if no new infections are detected, it proves that communication and prevention work has been effective.
"We conducted communication and screening tests in Na Sanh village, Tien Phong commune - a village with many HIV-infected people in the district - for 3 days but did not detect any infected cases. The most recent case was discovered in February 2022, suspected of being infected when participating in treating an HIV-infected person who had an accident without knowing that this person was infected," said Mr. Lo Van Nhat - a member of Sao Va group.
Mr. Ngan Van Un (44 years old, resident of Chau Kim commune) was one of the first people in Que Phong district to join a "peer group" to support people with HIV before coming to Sao Va group. Mr. Un used to be a village health worker but became addicted to drugs in 2012.
"At that time, heroin was readily available here. People invited each other to inhale heroin like smoking a cigarette. At first, they inhaled it, then they had to inject it to get high enough. Then they got infected with HIV from those shared injections. It's not clear who infected whom," Un said.
Khoa Van P. (living in Chau Kim commune) is only 22 years old but has been addicted to drugs for many years. At the end of 2021, P. fell ill but was not taken to the hospital by his family because they were too poor. When P. was bedridden and barely breathing, the family sent someone to buy wood to make a coffin to prepare for the funeral. Upon hearing the news, Mr. Un came to persuade P. to get tested.
The test results showed that P. was HIV positive. "If Methadone is 'gold' for addicts, ARV is the only way for HIV-infected people to maintain their lives. You are young, HIV infection does not mean the end of your life. If you are determined and persistent in taking medication, you can still live a healthy life," Un told P. and encouraged the young man to seek treatment.
The joy of being able to help someone in the same situation had just begun to grow when sadness came to Un when his nephew, who was also P.'s friend, was diagnosed with HIV due to sharing needles with him...
There were also times when the group members fell into both funny and sad situations when taking people to get tested for HIV. That day, the group of Lo Van Nhat and Ngan Van Un supported a case of "stoned" people to get tested.
In a state of high, the man started talking nonsense to his father who had been dead for decades. Nhat had to act along so that this man would "listen to his father" and go get tested.
After the test, the young man seemed more alert, so Un agreed to take him home. However, as soon as he reached the gate of the Medical Center, the young man continued to have a high, jumped up, and grabbed Un's neck. While resisting the force of a drug-addicted person and keeping his balance so that the bike wouldn't fall, Un could barely breathe, his face was red.
Luckily, his brothers discovered him, came to his aid, and "rescued" Un. Not yet over his high, this young man rushed out into the street to "swim", causing his brothers to have a heart attack, afraid of being implicated in the responsibility if he unfortunately caused danger to the people.
A corner of Na Sanh village - once an HIV hotspot in Tien Phong commune.
A sad reality is that the majority of people infected with HIV or at high risk are from poor or near-poor households. Therefore, in addition to buying gifts to approach, communicate, and raise awareness about this disease of the century for customers, Sao Va group members sometimes have to work as "motorbike taxis" to take them for free to get tested and get medicine.
When addicted to "stuff", people are willing to steal property to sell or simply pawn their identity papers to get money to buy drugs. Meanwhile, in cases of suspected HIV infection, without identity papers, the group cannot complete the procedures for referral for testing and treatment.
"A citizen ID card can only be mortgaged for 200,000 VND, enough to buy a dose of drugs, but the interest rate can be up to 10,000 VND/day. If the documents are not redeemed, the customer will be delayed in intervention. Moreover, the longer it is left, the more interest there is, and the higher the redemption fee.
Sometimes, brothers and sisters pay out of their own pocket to redeem them, but sometimes they don't have money themselves and have to "ask for help" from the SCDI center," said Lo Van Nhat.
Source
![[Photo] Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chairs Government Conference with localities on economic growth](https://vstatic.vietnam.vn/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2025/2/21/f34583484f2643a2a2b72168a0d64baa)
Comment (0)