The meeting was aimed at calling on the whole society to participate in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Speaking at the event, the Permanent Deputy Chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee, Nguyen Thanh Tai, informed that the number of newly effected HIV patient in the city in the first nine months of the year was 3,036, lower than that in the same period last year (4,477cases).

By June 30, 2009, Vietnam had more than 149,000 HIV carriers and 32,400 AIDS patients. HCM City is the locality with the highest number of HIV/AIDS sufferers. Drug users and prostitutes are high-risk groups, according to a report from the Health Ministry’s Anti-HIV Department.