VIENTIANE (UCAN) -- Workers of Church groups and NGOs in Vientiane that deal with HIV/AIDS say their priority is education to help young people avoid risky behavior and learn not to discriminate against people already infected.

Vieng Akhone Souriyo, director and founder of Laos Youth AIDS Prevention Program, said his group of about 20 volunteers helps young people learn about transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that usually leads to AIDS and how to deal with, and not shun, people living with it.

Vieng, who is attending the "HIV/AIDS Program Management workshop: Delivering Results," being held May 2-13 in Thailand, spoke to UCA News in Bangkok. He said his organization works to provide basic knowledge about HIV/AIDS, educates volunteers regarding prevention methods and reaches out to communities through awareness programs.

The Laotian activist set up an outreach program that uses theater to spread the message of prevention, with HIV-positive volunteers taking part in drama presentations. His strategy, he explained, is to promote interaction between people living with HIV/AIDS and others in Laos, especially youth.

Such interaction is an effective way of convincing people of the real dangers of HIV, while it also helps combat the tendency of society at large to isolate and stigmatize people living with HIV/AIDS, he said.

Vieng began this work in 2001 after a friend of his, who contracted HIV while working in Thailand, died of an AIDS-related illness. He recalled that his friend had been ostracized and shunned by his family members, who kicked him out of the house when they learned he had AIDS.

In October 2004, the United Nations honored Vieng in recognition of his AIDS education work in Vientiane.

Stephen Rozario, head of World Vision Laos, points out that Laos is at very high risk even though it is classified as a "low-prevalence country," with an HIV-infection rate of less than 1 percent.

Since "higher-prevalence countries" such as Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam border the landlocked country, the young and increasingly mobile population needs to know how to prevent HIV/AIDS, Rozario told UCA News.

He said World Vision, an international Christian relief and development organization working in 96 countries, has educated and trained villagers and government officials in Laos about HIV/AIDS prevention, how to handle and accept people with HIV/AIDS and how to handle the situation in communities.

The local Catholic Church also has gotten involved. A Church worker at the cathedral in Vientiane told UCA News that a parish family ministry program was sending married couples for HIV/AIDS education in Nong Khai, the Thai province just across the border from the Laotian capital.

Vieng said that since 1990, a total of 1,400 cases of HIV/AIDS have been reported in 15 of Laos' 18 provinces. The World Health Organization and the United Nations Program on AIDS estimate that 1,700 adults and children were living with HIV/AIDS in Laos as of the end of 2003.

The corresponding estimates of the two UN agencies for Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam are 170,000, 570,000 and 220,000, respectively.

Khankham Southavilay, a worker of Australia-based Burnett Institute, a medical research institute dedicated to finding cures for infectious diseases, says her organization also focuses on creating HIV/AIDS awareness in Vientiane and in Savannakhet province, central Laos, across the border from the Thai province of Mukdahan.

Khankham, who was also in Thailand to attend the workshop, told UCA News that Vientiane and Savannakhet have quite a number of HIV cases due to the migration of young people seeking better employment opportunities in Thailand.

Chiang Mai University organized the workshop to update participants on the latest developments in the Asia-Pacific region and to strengthen their competency in managing programs. After a week in Bangkok, the venue shifted to Chiang Mai, northern Thailand.

Participants from Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Laos, Malaysia, Pakistan and the Philippines included Catholic Church workers from China.

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