Most street kids unsure where to get help

Most young street people in Ho Chi Minh City do not know where to turn to for help when faced with issues like doing paperwork, trying to give up drugs, and HIV testing and treatment.

According to peer educators – many of them former street children themselves — who work for NGO Save the Children, getting papers like birth certificates and identity cards is among street kids\' biggest problems.

As a result, many of them could not go to school even if they wanted to or integrate into society, they said.

People living on the streets complain about discrimination against them in testing for and treating HIV.

A forum held on July 21 by Save the Children and the HCM City Open University\'s Centre for Applied Social Work tried to provide answers to the problem of where and who they can approach for help.

Le Thi My Hien, the centre\'s head, said the forum\'s objective was also to apprise street children about regulations and policies on HIV/AIDS and places for treatment.

Lawyer Pham Thi Hong Huong, head of the HCM City Bar Association\'s HIV/AIDS Legislative Assistance Office, spoke about the regulations as well as the rights and responsibilities street people have. She and her office would always be willing to help them, she said.

Dr Nguyen Dang Phan of the Xom Moi General Clinic provided peer educators a list of addresses to help street people get tested and treated for HIV and give up drugs.

They would not face discrimination and would receive free treatment, he promised.

A project to educate young street people about HIV/AIDS prevention, dubbed NAM, has been carried out in four cities — Hanoi, Hai Phong, Can Tho and HCM City — for the last two years with funding from USAID and other donors.

1,195 homeless

According to the city Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, there are 1,195 homeless young people in HCM City.

Le Quang Nguyen, protection specialist at Save the Children, said young street people remained highly vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, revealing that 30 per cent of those he and his colleagues had met had HIV.

They had no access to health care, education, or jobs, or awareness of HIV prevention, he said.

He and his colleagues had implemented the project to help them and improve their awareness, he said.

One of their methods was forming groups of peer educators who have experience of life on the streets and, as a result, are able to make contact with street kids, educate them on HIV prevention, and help them access health services, he said.

They also organised meetings between street people and authorities and doctors to help the latter understand and create regulations to ensure street people would get their benefits, he added.

To Van Huy, a peer educator and a former street kid who was rehabilitated by the project, said the project revived his trust in society and helped him find a livelihood. Thus, when he had a chance to save other people in his former situation of drugs and HIV by becoming a peer educator, he would grab it, he said.