Napua is a 26-year-old woman from Laos. Six years ago, she moved to Thailand, together with her husband. During a pregnancy, in 2020, doctors discovered that both Napua and her husband are HIV-infected. Unfortunately, they cannot afford medical for both of them.
After Napua discovered about her infection, the doctor advised her to start taking ARV-medication. This medication doesn’t heal you, but it suppresses the virus, which makes HIV a chronic disease, rather than something you die from. But because Napua is from Laos, they have to pay for their medication, 1300 Baht per month, per person. Because they don’t have enough income to cover this, father decided to not take medication, so that his wife and son can take it. We are not sure yet whether their son is infected as well. So far, the doctors have found now HIV, but the baby still needs to pass a third test.
Special project: free medication
After interference of Siam-Care, the local hospital in Mukdahan, started a project where they give free ARV-medication to 5 migrants. Siam-Care applied for both parents and they are now both receiving free medication, starting from March this year. Napua and her husband are thankful, but also quite ignorant. Siam-Care staff is counseling them and training them how to take their medication in the right way. Napua and her husband ask many questions, such as: “If I need to take my medication at 8 PM, but I take it at 8:05, is this a problem?”. Our staff answers all their questions, to ensure they take their medication in the right way. We cannot heal this family, but we can ensure they live a fairly normal life, by helping them take their medication.
