TIME examines discrimination against HIV-positive children in Vietnam

Aug 25 2009

TIME examines the discriminatory efforts to keep Vietnamese children living with HIV out of the country's public schools even though, by law, "[c]hildren cannot be barred from school because they or any of their family members have HIV/AIDS."

"Discrimination against people living [with] HIV/AIDS is nothing new," the magazine writes. "But the irony in this case is that Vietnam has some of the most sweeping HIV/AIDS laws in the world, says Jesper Morch, the UNICEF representative in Vietnam." Yet, "[u]nlike the epidemic in parts of Africa, where the virus has cut a large swath through entire communities and few have been untouched, the number of HIV-positive persons in Vietnam is less than one percent."

The article reports on what the schools are doing to increase HIV-positive children's access to school, including door-to-door efforts to educate parents of school-aged children about HIV (Kennel, 8/24).

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