Lan 0916063477 Ha Noi

Lan 0916063477 Ha Noi

UN pledges further aid to Vietnam’s HIV/AIDS prevention

The United Nations will continue working closely with Vietnamese authorities to help the country better control the spread of HIV/AIDS, said a senior UN official.

Michel Sidibe, Head of the Country and Regional Support Department of the Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS, made the pledge at a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong in Hanoi on Friday. He emphasized the need for each and every country the world over to change public attitude towards victims of the disease, now a major challenge in the world. His view was shared by the Vietnamese Deputy PM, who pointed out the need to base the HIV/AIDS program at the community level as well as to increase coordination and exchange of experiences between nations and international bodies. Trong said the Vietnamese Government has been campaigning strongly for support from mass organizations, communities and individual families in an effort to mitigate the spread of the epidemic. The campaigns, together with the Government's action plan would enable Vietnam to effectively control the pandemic and eliminate prejudice against those infected with HIV/AIDS, he concluded. More funding Vietnam will earmark VND150 billion (nearly US$9.4 million) for preventing and fighting against HIV/AIDS this year, compared with VND82 billion ($5.1 million) last year, said Duong Quoc Trong, head of the country's AIDS Prevention Department. The country would also use an additional VND290 billion ($18.1 million) mobilized from international donors for its anti-HIV/AIDS activities in 2007. Under this year’s program, 10,000-120,000 Vietnamese AIDS patients are expected to have access to anti-retroviral medicines, all children having HIV will undergo treatment, and 75 HIV testing centers nationwide will be upgraded. As of December 2006, Vietnam had recorded 116,565 HIV cases, 20,195 AIDS cases and 11,802 AIDS-related deaths, according to the Department of AIDS Prevention. Source: VNA