UN Volunteers Programme teaches English to those living with HIV/AIDS

HA NOI, 27 January 2005 -- In an innovative programme to assist people living
with HIV/AIDS, the United Nations Volunteers (UN Volunteers) is coordinating
English classes in Hanoi to encourage greater involvement in HIV/AIDS programmes
and learning.

“This tutoring programme allows people living with HIV/AIDS and those working in
this area to improve their English skills, self-confidence and the ability to
access international research and funding opportunities,” says Robert Marten,
the initiative’s manager. “It is essential that people living with HIV/AIDS
participate in such kinds of programmes and activities.”

So far over 60 people living with HIV/AIDS and nurses and doctors who work in
the field, are learning about HIV/AIDS in English in a friendly, conversational
informal environment. The programme hopes that greater English skills will allow
those on the frontline of the fight against HIV/AIDS to better interact with the
international donor community as well as to access international knowledge and
experiences related to HIV/AIDS programmes.

Classes are formed in small groups with four to ten students and one or two
teachers. The teachers are a team of UN Volunteer Associates from Australia,
the Philippines, the United States and Viet Nam.

“Each day, we spend about 20 minutes on grammar, reading about HIV/AIDS and
discussing it, and spend the rest of the time working on our conversational
skills discussing issues that are important to them,” says tutor Jalane Christie
Tan, who recently began her class. “They are very enthusiastic and interested in
learning more about HIV/AIDS and how they can become more involved.”

The involvement of people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS (known as the GIPA
principle, or Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV/AIDS) in the fight
against the disease is important and crucial. At the 1994 Paris AIDS Summit, 42
nations, including Viet Nam, declared GIPA to be critical for ethical and
effective national responses to the epidemic. Since then, this strategy has been
promoted as a cornerstone of HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support.

Yet many Vietnamese people living with HIV/AIDS or working in the field are
still in urgent need of training and capacity development to enable their
meaningful participation in HIV/AIDS activities. This tutoring scheme seeks to
address these needs through increased awareness and involvement of those
struggling with HIV/AIDS in HIV/AIDS activities.

The tutoring scheme works in cooperation and consultation with international
organizations (POLICY Project, CARE International, DKT International, the
Medical Committee Netherlands Viet Nam, Smart Work), Vietnamese organizations
(Institute for Social Development Studies, SHAPC, VICOMC) as well as United
Nations agencies and programmes (IOM, UNAIDS, UNDP).

For more information, please contact:
Robert Marten
Manager, English Tutoring Scheme for People Living With HIV/AIDS
Mobile: (84 4) 0912 750 150
robert.marten@...
www.un.org.vn/unv