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Home » What We Do » Gender, Reproductive Health, HIV and AIDS » Reducing Vietnamese Migrants' and Immigrants' Vulnerability to HIV
Reducing Vietnamese Migrants' and Immigrants' Vulnerability to HIV
Introduction
Economic reforms introduced in Vietnam in 1986 led to increased migration of people
looking for work. By 2002, the Ministry of Labour estimated that more than 200,000
Vietnamese contract workers had been sent abroad; with 160 private labour broker
agencies functioning in the country, this number grows each year. In addition are
millions of internal migrants, who move from rural to urban areas in search of employment.
While migration has significantly increased the country's GDP (more than one-
A 2004 migration survey demonstrated that common problems of internal migrants included
lack of access to housing, education, health insurance, and basic services, as well
as exploitation. Overseas migrant workers also face obstacles caused by language
and cultural barriers, and are vulnerable to abuse. The survey demonstrated that
while most migrants know of HIV/AIDS and STIs, their knowledge of causes, prevention,
and treatment are generally poor; only 0.2% of male migrants aged 15-
Recognizing that mobile populations have higher HIV infection rates than those who
do not move -
Through this project, HealthBridge aimed to build upon its earlier achievements by working in Nghe An, one of Vietnam's poorest provinces. Since 2000, when Nghe An began its formal labour exportation program, approximately 37,000 people have been sent overseas as migrant workers, most without receiving training to reduce their vulnerability to HIV. HealthBridge sought to facilitate a training and mentoring mechanism through which the processes developed in Thai Binh could be adapted to Nghe An.
Because many of the barriers to reproductive and sexual health that exist among Vietnamese in Vietnam are also faced by Vietnamese immigrants in Canada, including an unwillingness to discuss sexual and reproductive health issues between generations or partners and a paucity of easy to understand resources, this project also investigated the adaptability of materials developed for migrant workers leaving Vietnam for use by Vietnamese Canadians.
Objectives
The goal of this project was to reduce Vietnamese migrants' and immigrants' vulnerability to HIV.
- To facilitate collaboration between two Vietnamese provinces to effectively deliver support services for overseas migrants.
- To strengthen commitment and capacity of key stakeholders to implement government laws related to HIV prevention among migrants.
- To assess the appropriateness and increase access of HIV prevention information materials developed for Vietnamese migrants for use among Vietnamese immigrants in Canada.
Results and Impact
The project met its three objectives as planned.
OBJECTIVE 1: TO FACILITATE COLLABORATION BETWEEN TWO VIETNAMESE PROVINCES TO EFFECTIVELY DELIVER SUPPORT SERVICES FOR OVERSEAS MIGRANTS
Planned and Actual Activities
- Established a project committee representative of government and private sector institutions involved in labour exportation and of local migrant groups. The project was comprised of representatives of the Nghe An People's Committee; Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs; Department of Health; and the Labour Exportation Management Board. These representatives were the key local government leaders who were responsible for managing labour exportation. The committee worked with HealthBridge to design the project's activities, and to implement and manage the project.
- Undertook situational assessments of current labour exportation practices and existing supportive services. The assessment was carried out based on considerations of the limitations and experiences of a similar one previously carried out in Thai Binh province.
- Shared lessons learned, experiences, and successes from Thai Binh province. The project implementation report from Thai Binh project was shared with Nghe An project team members to ensure that project implementation in Nghe An would be based on existing best practices. The experiences from Thai Binh also were shared in Nghe An through a project launch workshop and during the dissemination of the situation assessment findings.
- Provided two training of trainer training courses on migrant worker health, HIV/STI prevention, and migrant workers' rights for teachers working for labor export companies and 60 vocational training schools located in Nghe An. The project utilized materials previously developed during the Thai Binh project that were adapted for Nghe An.
- Disseminated a booklet and a manual to 10,000+ migrant workers to increase their information about a range of issues related to reducing their risks while working overseas.
Results/Key Impact of Objective 1: Through their participation in the project, project partners working in Nghe An DoLISA and Thai Binh DoH gained an opportunity to better understand the existing situation and policies related to labour exportation, and to identify ways to fill the gaps that existed. They did so in a collaborative way, learning from a previous experience in Thai Binh province. While the Nghe An partners' capacity was built in identifying and addressing gaps, the Thai Binh partners' capacity was built in acting as resource persons, sharing experiences and lessons learned, and suggesting ways to utilize and adapt material from an earlier project. This provided a unique opportunity for these partners to work together, as such collaboration is not the norm in Vietnam. Through their involvement in the project committee, representatives of a range of government and related agencies gained a greater understanding of the current situation of labour exportation in their province, best practices, and gaps and/or weakness in policy. The members of the committee were able to work collaboratively to address these gaps and to identify solutions, which were then directly integrated into their respective organizations' work plans.
OBJECTIVE 2: TO STRENGTHEN COMMITMENT AND CAPACITY OF KEY STAKEHOLDERS TO IMPLEMENT GOVERNMENT LAWS RELATED TO HIV PREVENTION AMONG MIGRANTS.
Planned and Actual Activities
- One meeting was held with the project committee to review the Law on HIV/AIDs Prevention and Control Law and the Ordinance on Labour Exportation (Law on Overseas Workers) with respect to reducing the risks of HIV/STIs among migrant workers and how each sector could integrate these laws into their respective work plans.
- Commitments were made by representatives of each participating organization, and especially the Centre for HIV/AIDS Prevention within DoLISA, to adjust their respective internal work plans to ensure coherence with the laws and to improve the quality of labor exportation management services.
Results/Key Impact of Objective 2: With the commitments made by the participating project committee members, and the training of trainers noted above, and with the official directive issued by the Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, significant changes are being made in terms of the types and level of training being provided to potential migrant workers about HIV/AIDS prevention. This training will go a long way to reducing vulnerability and risk among this population.
OBJECTIVE 3: TO ASSESS THE APPROPRIATENESS AND INCREASE ACCESS OF HIV PREVENTION INFORMATION MATERIALS DEVELOPED FOR VIETNAMESE MIGRANTS FOR USE AMONG VIETNAMESE IMMIGRANTS IN CANADA
Planned and Actual Activities
- 20 CHCs and associations were contacted in several Canadian cities where sizable
populations of Vietnamese immigrants live. Of these, 7 were in Vancouver, 6 were
in Ottawa, 5 were in Toronto, and two others were in smaller cities. Each of centres
was asked about the HIV prevention services provided to their local Vietnamese-
Canadian communities and the nature of materials that currently exist. In the end, however, only one organization - Somerset West Community Health Centre in Ottawa - agreed to participate in the project. Of those that responded and declined, the majority did not focus on HIV prevention with their Vietnamese- Canadian communities and so did not feel adequately equipped to participate. - IEC materials developed in Vietnam (training documents, HIV/STI prevention booklet,
and manual for migrant workers) disseminated to Somerset West Community Health Centre
staff to assess the value and appropriateness of those materials to the Vietnamese-
Canadian context.
Results/Key Impact of Objective 3: The evaluation of the Vietnamese documents by
four key staff at the Somerset Community Health Centre engaged in HIV prevention
work among Vietnamese Canadians in Ottawa revealed the following: (i) the manual
for overseas workers was the least relevant in the Canadian context, as it addressed
situations either not likely to be experienced by Vietnamese immigrants in Canada
(in general) or not by those with whom the Centre works. While recognizing the value
of the manual, the SWCHC staff did not feel competent enough to conduct a more thorough
review to make the document Canadian-
For more details on these and other results, please see the final project report.
Lessons Learned
- The right selection of project partners enabled the project team to achieve far more than its initial objectives: the project coordinator in Nghe An DoLISA is also the focal point in the Nghe An Board of Women's Advancement and in this role, she has integrated the training on HIV into her work which targets a broad range of government officers and representatives of private sector companies and businesses.
- Sharing project experiences from a prior project implemented in Thai Binh province helped the project to be implemented more effectively and for similar challenges to be avoided.
Recommendations
The recommendations generated through this project were largely included within the legal letter which requires all labour exportation companies and vocational centres in Nghe An province to extend the duration of their training on HIV/STIs and to provide more detailed training about HIV/STIs. This project, in building upon the results of a previous project funded by CIDA's HIV/AIDS Small Grants Programme, has contributed to greater collaboration and sharing among Vietnamese provinces in a largely neglected area: HIV/STI prevention and risk reduction among migrant workers. There is still much work to be done in this area, but the Canadian government has successfully initiated a process in which it will hopefully continue to be engaged.
Project profile
Key Partner: HealthBridge Vietnam; Nghe An Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs; and Thai Binh Department of Health
Location: Vietnam
Donor: Federal Initiative to Address HIV/AIDS in Canada -
Duration: 2009 -
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