HIV Epidemic Snapshot in Taiwan

The first HIV case was diagnosed in 1984, and the total number of HIV cases by 2005 were more 10,000 . In the past two years, the risk factors have shifted from sex to drug use. The transmission rate increased 77% and 123% in 2004 and 2005 respectively because of sharing needles.

3,017 drug users were found HIV positive by the end of 2005. 70% of them were discovered to be HIV positive when they were in the prison. It shows that the HIV-awareness education in prison and detention centers is very urgent.

28 pregnant women were found with HIV/AIDS in 2005 and 16 of them were drug users. Seven of them were from mainland China and Indonesia and married to Taiwanese men. They will be sent back to their countries of origin in accordance with our law that foreigners with HIV/AIDS have to be deported.

Lourdes Home

Lourdes Home operates main offices in Taipei (north of Taiwan) and a branch office in Taichung (central of Taiwan). There are 12 staff members including 7 professional social workers, 1 psychologist and 2 care-givers. It is our goal to improve the quality of life of those people infected with HIV through our community-based services.

Case Management

We contacted about 1,500 clients and have opened 305 cases for those clients who have multi-needs. 80% are male and 2% are female. 84% are 20-40 years old and 10% are 40-50yearsold. 20 cases (8%) were closed because of death and 160 cases (60%) were closed because their needs were met.

We provided counseling 557 times. 25 people stayed in our housing accommodation. We provided financial aid to clients in need for 359 times with a total amount of NT$610,000 (US$17,940). 49% of the financial aid was for living expenses, 39% for rents and 12% for medical expenses. 

The needs of the clients :

58% HIV treatment information

47% Difficulties in life adjustment

33% Relationship problems

25% Needs in care

22% Financial Needs

21% Family relationship problems

12% Self-care Information

11% Housing needs

9% Human right issues

The residence of the clients:

43% Taipei area

35% Taichung area

10% Tao-ywan, Hsin-chu and Mao-li areas

10% Yun-lin, Jia-yi, Kaohsiung and Pin-dung areas

2% Hwa-Lien and Taitung areas

The source of the clients:

29% Self-seeking

25% Referral from hospitals and public health workers.

19% From prisons

16% Through out-reach work

8% From families and friends

3% From other NGO organizations

The Work with Drug Users

Since the number of prisoners infected with HIV had dramatically increased, Lourdes Home social workers and volunteers put more effort in giving counseling and support to prisoners and providing case management to those prisoners who were released.

We have co-operated with the Clinical Psychology Students at Catholic Fu-ren University and the students provided 16 group activities in 2005.

Social workers and volunteers made 851 visits to 26 prisons and detention centers island wide and gave services to 1,500 prisoners. We gave counseling and information through 221 letters. We gave services to 65 ex-prisoners and 7 of them stayed in our accommodation housing, and NT$160,000 (US$4,700) financial aid was provided. Social workers visited ex-prisoners?homes for 17 times in the outskirts of Taichung county.

Peer Support Services

Lourdes Home operates two Friendship Centers for people infected with HIV in Taipei and Taichung. It is our goal that our HIV friends may support each other through our various programs and activities. People infected with HIV/AIDS in Taiwan live a very isolated life. Until 2005, only three people ever disclosed their HIV status publicly in Taiwan HIV history!

3,038 participants visited our Friendship Centers. We organized 6 HIV/AIDS workshops (with topics related to treatment and self-care) with 129 participants and 12 support groups with 149 participants. We organized recreational activities with 292 participants, 9 meals together with 279 participants and two Christmas parties with 185 participants. Self-support groups met monthly.

In 2005 for the first time we organized an International AIDS Conference with 80 HIV/AIDS friends and 20 AIDS workers for two days in a resort hotel with the support of Taiwan University Hospital and pharmaceutical companies. A British HIV friend and an American HIV friend were invited as key speakers. Their long term commitment in treatment advocacy and HIV prevention education deeply touched and inspired our HIV friends in Taiwan.

Outreach Work

We regularly visited HIV outpatient clinics and inpatient wards in 4 hospitals. We contact potential clients through out-reach work. Some people are reluctant to access resources unless they are familiar with the workers.

In 2005, we contacted 583 clients and 39% of them were a first time contact. 15% of the contacted clients were referred to our case management, 45% of them left telephone numbers for us and 57% of them needed HIV/AIDS treatment and self-care information.

HIV/AIDS Information Services

We provided information through telephone calls, e-mail, message board on Lourdes Home web, and MSN. As the people infected are getting younger, they are more likely to access information through modern technology. It also provides the nature of confidentiality. An average 32,000 times people browsed on our web every month.

We invested a lot on our website through workforce and regularly updated information. The messages on the message board are always daily.

We received 669 telephone calls. 62% of them needed treatment and self-care information, 30% adjustment difficulties, 25% relationship problems, 18% financial needs, and 10% human rights issues.

We replied to 732 messages on the message board. 60% of them were from people infected with HIV and 40% were from people uninfected with HIV. Some of our HIV positive friends also replied on the message board which serves as an exchange information board.

Work Team Development

Lourdes Home recruited 1 psychologist and two social workers in 2005 to respond to the increased workload. We have 12 staff members and about 100 volunteers. Staff members are encouraged to obtain training to improve their competence. Staff members participated 120 times in training sessions and workshops in the areas of family therapy, empathy training, working with drug users and harm reduction. Staff members had regular supervision for 81 times and reading groups for 20 times. 

Sister Teresa Hsieh, Director of Lourdes Home visited HIV/AIDS organizations and Needle Exchange programs in California and Paul Hsu, Vice-Director visited the Methadone maintenance programs in Hongkong.

Volunteers participate in visiting prisoners and assistance in Friendship Centers and activities. 8 training sessions were organized with 250 participants.

We organized 4 NGO AIDS workers group supervision sessions at which the AIDS workers from different organizations could share their experiences. A social work professor was invited to lead the group.

HIV-awareness Education and Advocacy

Lourdes Home was invited to give talks and training on HIV/AIDS for 104 sessions with 6,058 people. The main participants were public health workers, prison officers and guards, teachers and volunteers.

We wrote 17 articles related to AIDS work, self-care for people living with HIV/AIDS and discrimination, such as: HIV Case Management, Discrimination Against People infected with HIV/AIDS, The Church Which Cares About HIV/AIDS, etc. It is our goal that we may arouse from society concern, care and support to people infected with HIV/AIDS.

Since Sister Teresa Hsieh, Director of Lourdes Home is a member of AIDS Committee of the Center of Disease Control, she is positively involved with the policy making at the central government level.

Publications

We published a monthly newsletter with the latest HIV/AIDS information on treatment and self-care. We obtained the permission from British and American AIDS organizations to translate and publish their HIV/AIDS booklets. In 2005, we re-printed some booklets on treatment and self-care. We published a booklet for the family of HIV people and a booklet for people newly diagnosed with HIV.

Financial Report 

Remarks

In 2005 we faced the challenge of working with drug users infected with HIV/AIDS. Our staff members and volunteers put effort into learning the knowledge, skills and values in working with them, especially from the harm reduction perspective. We will be developing some programs especially for drug users in order to respond to their needs. We are planning to translate and publish a book on harm reduction therapy in 2006.

However, we shall not neglect the present programs for the gay men who are infected with HIV/AIDS. Women and children infected with HIV/AIDS are also increasing. We need to liaison with other organizations in response to their needs when we lack resources to expand the work in this area