Bettering Lives in Vietnam

Nguyen Thi Hahn

Store Owner, Hanoi, Vietnam

Nguyen Thi Han was born the same year that Ho Chi Minh died, and if the legendary leader could see this modern Vietnamese woman, he probably would shake his head in disbelief.

Hahn is the founder and manager of a thriving pharmacy. She makes double the income of her husband, who has a government job. She tools around Hanoi in her large Honda Dream motorcycle, and she wears loud polka dot blouses that mark her as part of Vietnam's growing middle class.

As a working mother, she keeps her family small - just one child -- by using inexpensive, high-quality Trust condoms.

"Times are different now," says Hahn in her bustling pharmacy. "My mother had seven kids. How did she do it? The last pregnancy almost killed her. With my store, I barely have time for my one son. I have to use Trust."

And so do thousands of women all around Vietnam today. It is surely a sign of the growing popularity of birth control and a new-found female independence in Vietnam that 70 percent of the condom buyers in Hahn's pharmacy are women. Hahn also sells DKT's Choice contraceptive pills, which are so popular that she can scarcely keep them in stock.

Hahn proudly notes that she is the first woman in her family to own a business. But she acknowledges that Trust condoms play a key role in her business success. "With three or four or five kids, I'd have to put a sign on the door: 'Out of Business,'" she says. Hahn feels sorry for women who are burdened with large families. "Your income shrinks precisely at the moment your needs multiply."

Hahn's desire for a small family is motivated by more than just business reasons. The birth of her son was painful. For three months, Hahn was hospitalized with a womb infection that led to a Cesarean-section delivery. Her doctor said that a second child could be even more dangerous to her health, which is why she aborted an accidental pregnancy a year later, stopped using the rhythm method, and began using Trust condoms. Trust's television ads and the endorsement of her own customers convinced her to try them.

Hahn's story is interrupted by her husband, who has come home to watch their son. Hahn kick starts her motorcycle and speeds off into the streets of Hanoi to find special medicines for her customers. On the back of her motorcycle is a promotional sticker for Trust condoms.