13 years old Noy (nickname) is living with HIV. She lives in a village not far from the Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) clinic of Luang Namtha province. Noy was only 4 months old when she started to have health problems and at six months she was diagnosed with HIV.
“If there was no AIDS specialist from the Doctors Without Borders of Thailand, we will not see Noy grow up to be a teen” said Pinkham, the Provincial Self-Help Group Leader/volunteer living with HIV working at the ART site. At that time, the AIDS specialist advised the Lao doctors to treat Noy immediately for HIV – even though her result was negative. Two months later she was tested again and Noy was diagnosed with HIV – like her parent.
Sadly, Noy’s mother separated from her husband and she went back to her hometown in Oudomxay province, leaving the two-year old toddler with her father. Two years later Noy’s mother died from AIDS.
Noy continues to face many challenges in her young life. Noy’s father thought he was taking adequate care of his young daughter by giving her a chance to study beyond the compulsory primary education. However, Noy is growing up in an unfavorable environment as both her father and grandfather are amphetamine addicts. Noy’s father has no permanent job, uses and sells drugs and ended up in prison. Noy is now living with her grandfather who is doing odd jobs here and there. Due to his drug addiction, Noy is not always his main concern. “I sometime have no food to eat. I had to go without food for two days with only water to keep me going” said Noy with tears in her eyes. Unfortunately, the social safety net in the country is still at infancy stage which is why the province is not able to address the issues confronting orphan children.
Due to the challenges Noy is facing, she has been receiving support from the Association for People living with HIV (APL+) for the past 5 years through a small grant for orphans supported by the Global Fund. Noy is now studying her first year at lower secondary school. She is good at Lao language which is also her favorite subject. She gets 200,000 kip or about US$12 every three months. The amount is used to buy education materials, school uniform and sometimes to buy rice, soap, personal hygiene materials, etc. “200,000 kip per three month is not enough. This is why I always give her some rice, second-hand clothes and additional cash when Noy comes to my house asking for help” said Pinkham.
Pinkham was concern for Noy – a teenager living with her grandfather who is addicted to amphetamine. Hence, APL+ coordinated with the Provincial Education Department and successfully got her into the Ethic Boarding School. However, this year APL+ will have to pay for her schooling using the Global Fund grant as the academic year has already started and there was no scholarship left. Luckily, next year she will get one. APL+ is happy for Noy as this will ensure she has the opportunity to complete her secondary education.
With her education taken care of, APL+ and the doctors are now more concern about her health. From her appearance Noy looks like a normal teenager but doctors are worried about her high viral load. The doctors said that the virus is growing and her treatment is not working well. To suppress her viral load, she may need to start the second ART regime soon. The doctors are trying their best to help Noy win the war against HIV as she battles with this health crisis. APL+ is also working closely with the doctors to help Noy overcome the many hurdles she is facing in her young life.
