In Juesa Township, Butuo County of Liangshan Prefecture, the spread of HIV/AIDS and the use of drugs has destroyed many families. Left in the villages are many orphans. It is often the elderly who takes care of the sick and of the orphans left behind by parents who died of HIV/AIDS related diseases. TCE Field Officers work hard in mobilizing and educating the community, raising awareness about HIV/AIDS, educating the youth on the dangers of drug abuse, effects of pre-marital sex and other activities which could expose them to HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Despite being aged many people are eager to learn more about HIV/AIDS for the sake of spreading the word to the young.


The community participates in HIV/AIDS training organized by the Field Officer.

In July 2016, TCE Butuo Project Office staff went to Juesa Township to supervise the Field Officers' work and to give advice. During the visit the Project team came across different people who shared what they had learnt from the TCE Field officers about HIV/AIDS. As part of the visit the Project Office staff attended a village meeting/training. After the training there was a question-and-answer session. A grandma made an unforgettable impression on everyone. During the question and answer session the grandma answered all the HIV/AIDS related questions fluently and correctly. She said her knowledge came from the education given both by the government and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), especially by the TCE Field Officers from Humana People to People who often carries out door to door visits to villagers. She said such visits and education greatly improved the villagers' awareness and understanding of HIV/AIDS. She added that before they had only heard about HIV/AIDS, but did not understand what it was all about, but now the villagers have knowledge about the modes of HIV transmission, preventive measures, how to take care of HIV/AIDS patients and pregnant women. The grandma went on to tell about her son who through drug use had been infected with HIV, which resulted in his wife running away from home. She said that she and her young left-behind grandson rely on each other and that she would like to learn and know even more about HIV/AIDS, so that she can teach young boys and girls how to protect themselves and avoid being infected.

Finally she hoped TCE will continue to work on spreading awareness of HIV/AIDS. Her community is in great need of help and support in fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Field Officers share HIV/AIDS information wherever they meet people because it is important that they reach out to everyone.

Women as part of the vulnerable group are educated on the importance of reproductive health.

A brief summary of the project: 
TCE Butuo is a 3.5 years HIV/AIDS project operating in Butuo County, Liangshan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. The idea of the project is during a 3.5 years campaign to achieve total control of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Butuo County, reaching out to a population of 100 000 people. The project does one on one, door to door visits to all villagers, reaching out to them with health education, mobilization and voluntary home based counseling and testing. The project furthermore involves a Passionate Network and training of local leaders and influential people who support in information dissemination and mobilization work. Health education provided by the project includes HIV/AIDS knowledge, basic knowledge about STDs (Sexually Transmitted Diseases), mobilizing pregnant women for antenatal care and hospital delivery, providing condoms and explaining condom use to the sexually active singles and couples.

 
This project is funded by EU and HPP Baltic.
This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of BTWF TCE Butuo Project and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.