HIV-positive Vietnamese send message through arts

By Grant McCool

NHA TRANG, Vietnam (Reuters Life!) - Vietnamese choreographer Ke Doan says his attitude changed toward people with HIV and AIDS after he helped create performances that tell their stories through dance, music and song.

"At first I was afraid that when practicing I would have to hold their hand or hug them or hold them up and whether that contact could bring me HIV," he said at a gathering of performers in the south-central coastal town of Nha Trang.

"Now I fully understand about the transmission and I know I can hug them and touch them and share food," said Doan, choreographer of the Hanoi Youth Theatre.

Vietnam has relatively progressive policies on prevention and treatment of HIV and AIDS, but stigma and discrimination are an obstacle to awareness programs, public health experts say.

Traditional opera and dance, comedy and magic acts are used by various self-help groups nationwide to provide information and also give psychological and material support to those infected.

Several groups using performance arts met in Nha Trang to mark more than two years since the start of "HIV/AIDS Art-based communication, care and support for PLWHA," the acronym for People Living With HIV and AIDS.

DANCING TO AWARENESS

Swaying gracefully in long green, yellow and red dresses with pink shawls, four women sang in mournful, high-pitched voices about a woman whose husband became HIV-infected from using dirty needles to inject heroin and transmitted the virus to his wife.