Report: High Risk of HIV/AIDS in Highlands

A lack of education and a tradition of widespread premarital sex has put indigenous hill tribes at high risk of contracting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, a report by British NGO Health Unlimited has stated.

“HIV/AIDS is probably the most serious food security and health risk for the highland populations,” the report stated. “If the HIV epidemic spreads to the highland community, the probability of these communities losing their customary land and becoming homeless becomes very high.”

The survey was conducted in 15 Ratanakkiri provincial villages in October and November, with a minimum of eight families from Jarai, Krueng and Tampuen hill tribes interviewed in each village.

The report warns that indigenous hill tribe men who have worked in lowland areas and teen-agers who have gone to school in district or provincial capitals could contract a sexually trans­mitted disease before returning to their villages. The disease could then quickly spread, with teen-agers at particular risk.

Many hill tribe villages encourage teen-age boys and girls to ex­periment sexually before marriage. “In some villages, it is not possible for a girl to refuse the at­tentions of a boy, as he will then spread the message that she re­fused, and no one will then wish to marry her,” the report said.

The survey found some knowledge of HIV/AIDS among male villagers, although in some villages, no women had heard of the disease.

It was generally known that having sex with prostitutes in Ban­lung is risky behavior. But some men thought HIV could be spread through mosquito bites, urine, getting cut with a knife or sitting in a chair previously used by an AIDS patient, the survey found.

Generally, the health of indigenous hill tribe members in Ratan­akkiri “appears to be worse than that indicated by the national health surveys,” the report stated

Lack of roads, inaccessible health services, the high cost of treatment at the province’s referral hospital in Banlung, poor schooling and maternal care, and endemic malaria “all lead to high morbidity,” according to the report.

The survey found almost one in five children die before their first birthday, and almost one in four die before their fifth birthday in Ratanakkiri villages.

Health Unlimited officials found five suspected cases of HIV/AIDS in the villages that were surveyed, including one policeman who had re­turned home from working in lowland provinces and has since died. His wife is now sick, the report said

The use of non-disposable needles and syringes in health centers could be another factor in the potential spread of the disease, the report said..

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