HIV prevention campaign launched
VGP - The Health Ministry’s Viet Nam Administration of HIV/AIDS Control (VAAC) launched a campaign on HIV prevention on November 17.
The campaign will run till December 15 with various activities in response to the National Action Month for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control and 2021 World AIDS Day (December 1). It aims to raise public awareness of HIV prevention and eliminate discrimination related to the disease.
The event is directed by the VAAC with technical and financial support from the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the Viet Nam Health Development Cooperation Organization together with other partners.
During the event, the latest HIV countermeasures will be popularized for the public and young people at high risk, including safe and effective therapies such as anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment.
It will also call for health care for all people in a fair manner irrespective of their HIV situation.
The campaign will also feature a music video clip and an art exhibition showcasing 10 works by contemporary artists based on over 1,000 stories about love and lives of people with HIV. The display will open to visitors in District 2, Ho Chi Minh City on December 11-12.
Following the campaign, the CAAV will also launch a similar event to encourage those living with HIV to get vaccinated against COVID-19, fight wrongful information and provide scientific data about COVID-19 vaccines in Viet Nam.
Viet Nam is one of the four leading countries in the world regarding the best quality of HIV/AIDS treatment, with the percentage of HIV-infected people receiving ARV treatment with viral load below the inhibitory threshold now at 96 percent, contributing to reducing HIV infection in the community.
According to Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Hoang Long, Head of the Viet Nam Authority of HIV/AIDS Control, Viet Nam's goal to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2030 means that by that time, the epidemic will no longer be a concern of any individual or the community, as it becomes a normal disease.
The number of cases falling below 1,000 a year and a death rate related to HIV/AIDS at below 1/100,000 would basically mark end the AIDS epidemic in Viet Nam, he stated.
According to Dr. Hoang Dinh Canh, over the past 10 years, Viet Nam has continuously recorded declines in the number of newly infected cases, the number of which converted to AIDS, and the deaths related to HIV/AIDS.
The country has controlled HIV infection rate in the community at below 0.3 percent.
Since 2000, Viet Nam has made prophylaxis for about 500,000 people to be not infected with HIV and 200,000 without dying from AIDS.
By Hoang Ha