The nation aims for treatment to all HIV carriers
VOV.VN - The Vietnamese government is gearing up a health insurance expansion scheme to cover the costs of treatment of HIV-infected people, said Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam at a meeting on November 26 in the northern province of Hai Duong in response to World AIDS Day (December 1).
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In his speech, Deputy PM Dam said HIV/AIDS epidemics befell for the first time in the world 35 years ago and was discovered in Vietnam 25 years ago with 250,000 infection cases and over 90,000 deaths reported.
“All people with HIV or exposed to HIV infection must be respected and receive treatment. We must join hands to achieve the UN’s 90-90-90 target that Vietnam has committed to. Despite encouraging progress in the fight against HIV-AIDS, we must work harder to prevent further HIV infections,” he noted.
Apart from international support, the Vietnamese government will allocate more budget for the battle against the epidemics and issue health insurance of HIV patients, Dam added.
The 90-90-90 target means by 2020, 90% of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status, 90% of all people with diagnosed HIV infection will receive sustained antiretroviral therapy, and 90% of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression. The world is embarking on a Fast-Track strategy to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.
2017 is the 10th consecutive year Vietnam has experienced the fall in number of newly-discovered HIV infections, the number of transmissions to full-blown AIDS and the number of AIDS-caused deaths. Each year, around 10,000 new cases of HIV infection are discovered in the country, primarily via sex.
After the meeting, students and members of armed forces participated in an anti HIV/AIDS parade.