The HIV epidemic and the difficulties of children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS in Ha Long city, Quang Ninh province, Vietnam

The objectives of this study are to identify the situation of children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS, the children’s primary caregivers, and the needs and the priority of the needs of the children. This study utilized a combination of three methods to collect data such as synthesizing information from available secondary documents, quantitative study and qualitative study.
More than a half of primary caregivers for children infected and affected by HIV are over 60 year-old, bad health, and low income. 94% of households said that their income is not sufficient to spend. 44.4% of households have unstable income. About 24% of children infected and affected by HIV are living in the houses with poor condition. The situation of physical and psychological health of the HIV-infected children is very bad. The biggest difficulty for children affected by HIV/AIDS is access to education because of lack of money to pay tuition fees, and discrimination. The children suffer from the discrimination in both their communities and their families. The first needs of the whole children is educational support, the second is medical examination and treatment support and the third is the support related to nutrition.
Key words: HIV-infected children, children affected by HIV, support needs, primary caregivers, maternal or paternal grandparen