This warning was given in the recently-released national report on 2008 MDGs.

The report said by the end of 2007, HIV infected people were situated in 66 percent of communes and 96.4 percent of districts in the country’s 64 cities and provinces with the majority living in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Thai Nguyen and An Giang provinces.

In 2005, 7,603 people died of AIDS, while the figure in 2006 was 6,286 and fell to 3,553 in 2007.

The number of HIV carriers among men accounted for 80.5 percent, however, this rate has tended to decline through years with 79.7 percent in 2006 and 76.5 percent in 2007.

In contrast, the ratio of women was reported to increase, from 19.5 percent in 2005 to 20.3 percent in 2006 and 23.5 in 2007.

According to the Health Ministry, there will be 72,970 HIV carriers who wish to have access to antiretroviral (ARV) treatment by 2010, as compared to 42,480 in 2006.

Meanwhile, the national action plan on HIV/AIDS prevention set a target of 70 percent of adults and 100 percent of children to have access to ARV therapy by 2010.

To reduce the rate of HIV/AIDS infection to 0.3 percent of the country’s population by 2010, and fulfill the MDGs by 2015, the national report urged branches and agencies to increase information and education campaigns to raise people’s awareness on the importance of changing their behaviour, focusing on the 20-29 year-old group.

It also stressed the need to improve the counseling skills of HIV/AIDS workers, integrating HIV/AIDS prevention into socio-economic development and poverty reduction programmes and facilitating access to ARV therapy for people with HIV/AIDS.