Hoang Thi Huong, a young Pa Then woman from mountainous Ha Giang Province, is the prototypical grassroots activist lauded by the contest, which successfully finished yesterday.

Forming an informal HIV/AIDS support group, she and friends would sometimes walk 50km a day to reach remote ethnic minority outposts and markets where they would talk to villagers about the epidemic.

Because many Pa Then villagers do not speak Vietnamese, Huong’s efforts at HIV/AIDS education reached a previously untapped audience.

“HIV/AIDS was such a seemingly distant issue for these people,” she said. “Now most of the people we talked to understand the advantage of using preventive measures and the harm of drugs.”

“This has become an interesting topic of conversation, and I think people have a better grasp of the issue,” she added.

Huong’s effort is one of 35 winning projects awarded a total of VND5bil (US$332,000) in seed money to carry out their work. Winners ranged from efforts to train poor families in remote villages of Ha Giang, Cao Bang and Soc Trang provinces about protecting themselves from HIV/AIDS, to spreading the word to the country’s blind and mobility and hearing impaired.

Also receiving awards were a project to build websites and online forums for youth to share knowledge, and a programme to ensure that people living with HIV/AIDS and their families are cared for and therefore can rise to the challenge and contribute more to society.

Vietnam Innovation Day is “not only a competition of the best brains, it is a competition by and for the hearts and minds of people," said the Director of the World Bank in Vietnam, Klaus Rohland.

"The 50 projects that have been showcased in the last two days are fascinating innovations coming from all parts of Vietnam, and from many different groups of Vietnamese. Clearly, Vietnamese people have accepted the challenge to overcome HIV/AIDS and to help those infected as their own."

Nguyen Thanh Long, Head of AIDS Division, Ministry of Health said the competition “once again shows the commitment and participation of the society as a whole in preventing and combating HIV/AIDS”

The event comes as part of a campaign against HIV/AIDS launch by the Ministry of Health in April. 

It follows the priorities set out in the National HIV/AIDS Strategy 2010 and 2020 Vision, which include strengthening education and communication to change behaviour, strengthening care and treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS and reducing the epidemic’s impact groups, especially on young people. 

The latest data from Ministry of Health shows that by March 31, 2004, Vietnam has 79,154 people infected with HIV, of them more than 12,000 are AIDS patients, while nearly 7,000 have died from AIDS.

“I hope that the winning projects will be implemented successfully by communities because they come from the community," Mr Long said.

Three public forums were organised as part of the day. Themed “Community Involvement,” “Youth and Communication,” and “Care and Treatment,” the forums provided a chance for eight successful projects in HIV/AIDS to share their experience and stories. 

Representatives from the Government and donor community participated in the discussions on ways to multiply success and overcome difficulties.

UNAIDS Country Coordinator Nancy Fee said, "The knowledge forums have provided a great opportunity to show some of the current best practices in HIV/AIDS projects designed by communities. There is great commitment and energy in these projects. They demonstrate the solidarity of the Vietnamese people with people living with AIDS and their families."