Vietnam Should Double Efforts to Combat HIV/AIDS: US Delegate

Vietnam should double efforts to combat HIV/AIDS: US delegate

HANOI, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) — Vietnam should strengthen the government leadership in the battle against HIV/AIDS, and the public awareness about the disease, a former secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said here Monday.

“If the government, ministries, non-governmental organizations, medical professionals, citizens and others double their efforts, I believe that Vietnam will stamp out HIV/AIDS very quickly,” the former secretary Tommy Thompson said at a public forum event.

Although Vietnam has some other major health-related issues like bird flu to concern about, its government has taken many concrete measures to combat HIV/AIDS, he said, adding that to minimize new infections, Vietnam should keep on centering its prevention efforts on “drug addicts and sex workers, and educating young people about safe sex.”

Thompson led a 13-member delegation to evaluate the causes of the HIV pandemic in Vietnam and assess current national efforts to battle HIV/AIDS.

According to statistics released by the country’s Health Ministry, Vietnam detected 12,700 HIV carriers last year, a slight decrease over 2004. As of early 2006, Vietnam is estimated to have some 260,000 HIV cases, of whom 103,000 have been identified.

The country plans to reduce the HIV/AIDS infection rate among its 83-million population to below 0.3 percent by 2010, and keep it unchanged after 2020.