Nearly 10,000 children living with HIV/AIDS in VN
VGP – As many as 457,000 people are affected by HIV/AIDS, including 9,757 children infected with HIV/AIDS, according to the report of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.
Half of children living with HIV/AIDS are poor and very poor households.
Each year, the nation records around 10,000 new HIV carriers.
Viet Nam has seen an increase in the number of adolescents infected with HIV, especially among gays.
Statistics from the Health Ministry showed that the number of HIV carriers aged 15-16 rose three-fold in 2019 from 2011.
Associate Prof. Dr. Nguyen Hoang Long, Director of the Viet Nam Administration for HIV/AIDS Control, attributed the increase to homosexual sex among boys and drug abuse at schools.
Among 375 patients under treatment at Children Hospital No.1 in Ho Chi Minh City, 57 age above 15 and 226 others age 10-15.
Over the past years, the hospital has worked closely with the Partnership for Health Advancement in Viet Nam, the Ho Chi Minh City Disease Control Centre and other social organizations to hold training courses on HIV transmission prevention and control, and partnered with other units to offer vocational training to HIV-infected youths who left schools.
By Hoang Ha