The conference was held by the Ministry of Health and the National Committee for Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS, Drugs, and Prostitution in Hanoi on December 1.

Addressing the event, Ms Doan stressed that the Vietnamese government pledges to mobilize forces and work closely with international organizations to attain the Millennium Goal of preventing and repelling the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2015. She also highlighted the need to intensify research on the disease and called on sectors to continue their efforts to raise public awareness.

Vice President Doan praised medical staff and individuals who had silently devoted themselves to the fight against drug trafficking and HIV/AIDS, saying many of them even sacrificed their own lives during this fight.

At the conference, Health Minister Nguyen Quoc Trieu said since the first case of HIV was detected in Vietnam, the country has constantly strengthened medical supervision and guidance related to the epidemic. Many provinces and cities have devised suitable HIV-prevention models within local communities, he said.

So far, more than 2,000 drug addicts have been treated with Methadone and 44,000 AIDS patients have received antiviral medicine for treatment. Each year, tens of thousands of drug addicts and prostitutes are given information, condoms and clean syringes.

The HIV epidemic has shown signs of declining since 2008, Mr Trieu said. The country has basically curbed the expansion of the epidemic, slashing the HIV infection rate to 0.3 percent. However, he warned there are still many dangers that can lead to new outbreaks of the disease.

Vice President Doan also pointed out some existing problems such as the shortage of necessary legal policies, discrimination against HIV-infected people, and poor service in treating patients as well as limited human resources.

In the last two decades, Vietnam has discovered nearly 230,000 people who contracted AIDS via drug injection and unsafe sex. 48,000 have died of the disease. Ho Chi Minh City has recorded the highest proportion of infections (23 percent), followed by Hanoi (8percent), Haiphong, An Giang, Son La, and Thai Nguyen.