Professor Françoise Barré-Sinoussi talks with students at the Vietnam National UniversityTuesday.

Ending discrimination is key to preventing dreaded disease, says virologist who discovered HIV.

In a talk held Tuesday at the Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City, Prof. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi of the Pasteur Institute in Paris said the marginalization of people with HIV/AIDS was a worldwide problem.

“And in France, HIV individuals also face discrimination,” she said.

In Vietnam, discrimination against HIV/AIDS-infected people is still widely prevalent in society. At several local schools, parents have refused to let their children study with HIV-infected students.

“Stigmatization of HIV/AIDS people is one major obstacle in providing viral treatment because most people don’t want to be tested. Since they are not tested, they discover their infection too late and receive treatment late. And they also infect others.”

She said that people with HIV/AIDS should be respected with their infection, that it was a human rights issue. It should be kept in mind that justice and human rights are key issues in the prevention of HIV/AIDS, she stressed.

Barré-Sinoussi also announced that an international seminar will be held in Vietnam next year with the focus on fighting discrimination against HIV/AIDS people.

In another talk at the French Institute for Cultural Exchange (IDECAF) with local and foreign researchers, she called for the local media to play a more active role in raising the public awareness towards reducing the discrimination against the infected.

Concerning the HIV vaccine, she said she can’t give a specific time when it could be realized. Recent trials in Thailand showed some progresses but it’s hard to tell when the vaccine could be ready for use, said the professor.

Don’t work for rewards

Asked when a Vietnamese could win a Nobel prize, she said she “is convinced of that in the future” but advised students not to work for prizes, but for the love of it. She said she had never thought of winning a Nobel prize when she conducted research and devoted more than 13 hours a day, seven days a week to her work.

“When you like the work, you overcome yourself. It’s the question of emergency. When we are scientists, many people, especially the patients, expect so much from us,” she said.

She said so far her two “biggest failures” were the marginalization of HIV/AIDS patients and the HIV vaccine. “The dream and also the goal of my life is that one day HIV is eradicated everywhere in the world,” she said.

According to UNAIDS figures, about 31,000 people are living with AIDS in Vietnam and 243,000 are infected with HIV.

Reported by Tuong Nhi