A medical worker gives advice to an HIV patients (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - June 2018 has been selected as the action month to preventmother-to-child HIV transmission, Hoang Dinh Canh, deputy head of the HealthMinistry’s Department of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control, said on June 7.
The purpose of the action month is to promote theinvolvement of the entire political system and people in reducing the rate ofmother-to-child HIV transmission to below 2 percent by 2020.
It is expected to help complete the target of 90percent of pregnant women given anti-retroviral treatment in 2018, and allbabies born to mothers with HIV receiving early HIV diagnosis.
Thecampaign also aims to raise the awareness of people from all walks of life,especially pregnant women and spouses of people with HIV, of the benefits ofearly HIV testing.
Activitiesheld during the month also look to reduce discriminations against HIV-infectedpregnant women and their children.
Throughout the month, services to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission willbe stepped up, including expanding HIV testing for pregnant women, andproviding anti-retroviral drugs for HIV-infected women.
[Early testing needed to minimise mother-to-child HIV transmission]
The Ministry of Health’s Maternal and Child Health Department reported that therate of HIV infection among the country’s two million pregnant women every yearis 0.25 percent.
Pregnant women living in districts reported to be HIV hotbeds in 32 provincesand cities will be tested for HIV. All those who are confirmed HIV positivewill be given long-term anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment.
Vietnam is aiming to keep the rate of new HIV/AIDS infections below 0.3percent, while reducing the impact of HIV/AIDS on socio-economic development.
Vietnam saw decreases in the number of new HIV infections, people living withAIDS and AIDS-related fatalities for the tenth consecutive year in 2017,according to the Ministry of Health.
More than 209,400 people are living with HIV nationwide, including morethan 90,100 cases of HIV developing into full-blown AIDS, and about 94,600people have died of HIV/AIDS so far. The country’s HIV/AIDS prevalence amongthe population remains below 0.3 percent.
Last year, the country recorded about 9,800 people newly infected withHIV and 1,800 deaths due to HIV, down 1.1 percent and 15 percent, respectively,from 2016. The number of people contracting AIDS also declined by 39percent.-VNA
VNA
