Academy for Educational Development

Changing workers’ attitudes about HIV/AIDS in Vietnam

Tran Thi Dan could see that HIV/AIDS threatened her company. The Haiphong Leather Shoe Company’s 11,000 workers are very young, with many coming from the provinces—a workforce profile, she realized, that is particularly susceptible to the disease.

As vice chairwoman of the company’s labor union, Dan felt a responsibility to join a newly formed company committee that was targeting both HIV/AIDS infection and the harsh stigma Vietnamese society attaches to it.

Already, she says, workers are more aware of preventive measures and “have changed their points of view.

Now they don’t feel scared when they talk to people who are infected.” The committee making these gains is part of AED’s SMARTWork, a project that reaches people where they spend the bulk of their time, on the job.

Preventing an epidemic from crippling a nation

Vietnam’s rate of HIV/AIDS infection is just .3 percent, but even this modest rate signals a significant increase since 1997 and has the potential to halt Vietnam’s successful economic development.

Long identified in Vietnam as a “social evil” because of its roots in drug use and prostitution, HIV/AIDS infection has traditionally resulted in total shunning and immediate loss of employment.

With the disease now migrating into Vietnam’s general population, AED’s SMARTWork project, funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, is trying to reverse infection trends and protect the rights of people living with the disease.

"When the project is finished, we will continue developing and implementing the program. HIV/AIDS prevention must be a long-term objective." --Trahn Thi Dan

The project works on two levels: national policy and workplace. It unites government, employer, and labor representatives to recommend national labor code changes and brings together management and labor representatives in workplace planning committees.

AED workshop training and technical assistance prepare committees to develop their own policies and programs—from educational sessions to condom-dispensing initiatives.

For Tran Thi Dan and her fellow committee members, support from SMARTWork has made it possible to “hold prevention activities on a systematic basis and integrate HIV/AIDS-related news into regular workplace meetings.”

Changing corporate views for corporate survival

Dan says her company decided to participate in SMARTWork because it makes good business sense. “Business managers now understand that if we do not pay sufficient attention to HIV/AIDS, we may lose skilled workers and have to devote more time and costs to training new employees. If we do pay attention, morale will be better, and productivity will increase.”

Because of HIV/AIDS’s fundamental effects on a business’s stability, even prospective customers have become concerned about company HIV/AIDS policies, Dan says. Protecting workers’ health with knowledge Dan reports that her committee’s SMARTWork activities are taking hold.

“We clearly have an improved level of worker knowledge. Training courses, presentations, and reading materials prepared by SMARTWork have changed workers’ thinking.

They now consider these issues normal and natural, and discuss them with colleagues.” Current activities are merely the beginning. By building the capacity of committee members, AED has incorporated sustainability into the SMARTWork program. “SMARTWork has built a firm framework,” Dan says.

“When the project is finished, we will continue developing and implementing the program, adjusting it to changing circumstances. HIV/AIDS prevention must be a long-term objective.”