Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan has expressed her gratitude to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) for its support of Vietnam’s fight against the pandemic.

Welcoming Michel Sidibé, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNAIDS Executive Director, in Hanoi on October 24, the Vice President emphasised that Vietnam has demonstrated its strong political commitment to speeding up HIV/AIDS prevention and carrying out a national strategy on the fight with the participation of the entire political system.

The country has also exerted efforts to ensure equal access by all people to social welfare, medical care as well as HIV/AIDS preventive services and treatment, which is highlighted in the revised Constitution 2013, she added.

The Vice President asked the UN Under-Secretary-General on HIV/AIDS to continue encouraging international organisations to assist Vietnam in eliminating the pandemic by 2030 with priority given to preventive intervention measures and antiretroviral (ARV) drug and Methadone treatment.

Michel Sidibé congratulated Vietnam on its achievements in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

He expressed his belief that Vietnam will play an active role at the UN General Assembly to ensure that HIV/AIDS pandemic remains in attention as one of sustainable development goals after 2015.

The UN Under-Secretary-General said that his visit’s objective is to strengthen HIV/AIDS prevention programmes in Vietnam as well as to seek both domestic and international resources to help the country achieve the goals launched by the UN.-VNA