Vietnam National Program reduces rate of HiV infection in 2007

 

Thanh Nien Editor-in-Chief: Nguyen Cong Khe 248 Cong Quynh St . , Distr. 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Tel: 84 8 8 394 046 Fax: 84 8 8 322 025 Thanh Nien is the tribune of Vietnam’s Youth Association Publication permit No. 14/GP-BC, granted by Press Department, Vietnam Ministry of Culture and Information. http://www.thanhniennews.com/healthy/?catid=8&newsid=35373 Last Updated: Saturday, January 26, 2008 13:08:01 Vietnam (GMT+07) National HIV/AIDS program reduces infection rate The deployment last year of a national HIV/AIDS harm reduction program has reduced the rate of HIV infection in some provinces and cities, according to the Minister of Health, Dr. Nguyen Quoc Trieu. Since the program was implemented the infection rate of sex diseases in Quang Tri and Lai Chau provinces have decreased from 20 percent to 5 percent; and the HIV infection rate in drug injectors in Lang Son Province fell from 46 to 27 percent. The program focuses on reducing the HIV infection rate to less than 20 percent for drug injectors and to less than three percent for sex-workers. The HIV/AIDS Harm Reduction Intervention and Transmission Prevention National Program of Action 2007-2010 was approved by the minister in September 2007. Harm reduction workers have distributed, free of charge, more than 5.1 million syringes and 12.8 million condoms. The World Bank, the UK Ministry of International Development and Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs funded the effort to control the spread of the deadly virus. The Ministry of health figures showed more than 136,000 cases of HIV/AIDS infection and 16,000 deaths from the virus prior to October 2007. Source: VNA