The people portrayed by Steve Mc Curry live in rural Thai Nguyen and Phu Tho provinces. Although the percentage of Vietnam's population infected with HIV is relatively low, the number of people infected has more than doubled in the past six years. Most people living with HIV were infected through sharing needles for drug use, which is more common than in most other countries. With HIV easily spread into the population via sex between drug users and their partners, AIDS is a problem the Vietnamese government takes seriously.