Lao housewives at risk to HIV infection !

Housewives at risk to HIV infection

(KPL) The Lao National Committee Control of AIDS Bureau disclosed yesterday that only six months of this year, at least 226 Lao people infected with HIV positive nationwide.

The meeting of the Mobility AIDS Partnership (MAP) Lao PDR held at Lao Plaza hotel in Vientiane from 5 to 6 December, to call on all organisations taking part of the support’s anti-HIV...more info

This MAP meeting’s attempts to seek key mechanism to mobilise all organisations taking part of the anti-HIV, after housewives were found as a highly risky group.
The MAP Lao PDR was supported by the Canada South East Asia Regional HIV/AIDS Programme, where was attended by representatives from ministries, mass organizations, non-governmental organisations and donor agencies under chairmanship of Deputy Minister of Health, Mr Bounkuang Phichit.

According to the Lao National Committee Control of AIDS Bureau pointed that since 1990 to 2007, about 2,400 Lao people have been infected with HIV positive age about 25-35s, most of them being mobile workers.

Meanwhile housewives are reported that they are a high risky group of infected HIV positive from their husbands. Last years, 355 Lao people were reported that infected HIV positive.

The meeting of MAP Lao PDR followed the regional Mobility AIDS Partnership among Canada, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam (MAP-4), which took place in Vientiane, on 3-4 December 2007. MAP-4 is a main component of CSEARHAP, funded by the Canadian International Development Agency; the programme was established in four countries to implement the UN Regional Strategy on HIV Vulnerability Reduction for Migrants and Mobile Populations.

At the National level, the programme relies on a multi-sectoral mechanism of government and non-government partners to implement activities that directly reduce the HIV exposure of migrants and mobile populations. The MAP-4 meeting in early December focused on regional and national advocacy for issues of HIV and mobility.
Two-day meeting’s main objectives were to discuss the purpose, role and responsibilities of the Mobility AIDS Partnership in the Lao PDR and to promote sharing of resource invested in mitigating the HIV Vulnerability of migrants and mobile populations.

The main outcomes of the meeting included a review of the draft terms of reference of this national level multi-sectoral working group and a draft map of available resources. Discussions led by the UNAIDS Country Coordinator, Dr Michael Hahn, focused on the need to prioritize initiatives to reach the most vulnerable of the many migrants and mobile populations and their communities.

Mobile populations at high risk of HIV exposure were identified and various organizations shared their HIV-related activities for these migrants and mobile populations. By identifying existing evidence-based interventions and gaps in programming for migrants, stakeholders developed a matrix of existing initiatives to foster collaboration among stakeholders with similar interests and discourage duplication of efforts.

Source: kpl