The northern mountainous province of Dien Bien recorded 291 new HIV-infected cases i n the first ten months of 2014, a reduction of 155 cases from the same period last year, according to Hoang Xuan Chien, Director of the provincial centre for HIV/AIDS prevention and control.
Once leading the country in the ratio of HIV infections per ten thousand people, Dien Bien has successfully brought down the number of new infections by around 200 – 300 cases each year since 2010 as the result of numerous intervention programmes.
However, the rate remains high in rural and remote areas due to a lack of information on the disease and qualified medical services.
Director Chien said despite the stable records, the future outbreak of the virus is latent, requiring more drastic and effective measures to maintain overall sustainable progress.
By 2015, the province strives to constrain HIV infected rate among high-risk group, especially those using drug injection, via providing more and better counseling and testing services while expanding the scale of methadone treatment programme.
Dien Bien currently has 7,528 HIV positive persons and 9,500 drug addicts officially monitored.-VNA
Once leading the country in the ratio of HIV infections per ten thousand people, Dien Bien has successfully brought down the number of new infections by around 200 – 300 cases each year since 2010 as the result of numerous intervention programmes.
However, the rate remains high in rural and remote areas due to a lack of information on the disease and qualified medical services.
Director Chien said despite the stable records, the future outbreak of the virus is latent, requiring more drastic and effective measures to maintain overall sustainable progress.
By 2015, the province strives to constrain HIV infected rate among high-risk group, especially those using drug injection, via providing more and better counseling and testing services while expanding the scale of methadone treatment programme.
Dien Bien currently has 7,528 HIV positive persons and 9,500 drug addicts officially monitored.-VNA
