Vietnamplus

Vietnam hopes to provide anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment to about 160,000 people living with HIV/AIDS this year, said Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam.

A capacity building training course for networks of HIV-infected women to improve the voice, status and capacity of women living with HIV was held in Hanoi on November 9.

As one of four countries, alongside Germany, Switzerland and the UK, with the best HIV/AIDS treatment in the world, Vietnam has a rate of HIV-infected people receiving antiretroviral (ARV) treatment with a viral load below the inhibitory threshold reaching 96 percent, contributing to reducing HIV infection in the community, a health official has said.

Due to the reduction in international funding for HIV/AIDS prevention and control, the private sector is expected to get more involved in providing treatment opportunities for people living with the virus, contributing to putting an end to the epidemic by 2030.

Hanoi has seen improvements in three criteria for HIV control, including the number of people newly diagnosed with HIV, the number of HIV-infected people transferring to AIDS stage, and the number of people who have died of HIV/AIDS over the past decade.

As many as 89 percent of HIV/AIDS patients receiving antiretroviral drug (ARV) treatment in Vietnam have signed up for health insurance cards so far, with the figure expected to exceed 90 percent by the end of this year.

Community-based organisations participating in a USAID-funded project on HIV/AIDS prevention and control have made great contributions to the work in Vietnam thanks to their new ways of doing.

The Prime Minister has approved investment policies for a project to enhance participation of social and community organisations in preventing and controlling HIV/AIDS.

HCM City targets a serious reduction in the number of AIDS cases by 2030, according to the city’s Health Department.

Vietnam must step up efforts to ensure 90 percent of HIV-infected people will receive sustained antiretroviral (ARV) therapy by 2020, in line with the international UN target, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam said at a meeting of National Committee for AIDS, Prostitution and Drug Prevention on December 8.

Health authorities in Nha Trang city – the famous beach tourism destination hit hard by HIV/AIDS – have made progress against the epidemic. Their efforts are threatened by a lack of human resources.

The implementation of the Buddhist Leadership Initiative on preventing and combating HIV/AIDS at pagodas in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City was reviewed at a conference in Ho Chi Minh City on January 21.