HIV/AIDS prevention in Mekong Subregion enhanced
A project to enhance the prevention of HIV/AIDS in the Greater Mekong Subregion was launched in Hanoi on October 2.
To be implemented in 2013-2017, the project targets drug users, sex workers, migrants, ethnic minority people, poor locals and healthcare workers in 80 districts of 15 border provinces.
Apart from improving management capacity for HIV/AIDS prevention programmes at national, provincial and district levels, it will look to enable grassroots healthcare systems to expand HIV preventive services.
It will also contribute to fostering regional cooperation in preventing HIV transmission between border-sharing countries.
Deputy Minister of Public Health, Nguyen Thanh Long, said the project will help realise the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on gradually preventing HIV/AIDS spreading through providing high quality services for vulnerable groups in the benefited localities.
Participants, who hailed from 15 border provinces, talked about how to organise training courses, coordinate cross-border HIV/AIDS infection prevention plans and organise HIV/AIDS tests.
Vietnam has detected 213,413 HIV carriers who are still alive, of whom 63,373 have developed AIDS. As many as 65,133 accumulative deaths have been reported so far.
In the first five months of this year, on average 29 new cases were found daily nationwide.