Vietnam Women's Union

The plan focuses on improving public awareness of HIV/AIDS prevention and control through expanding information dissemination and education and mitigating discrimination against HIV/AIDS patients.

Other targets include improving patients’ living conditions and building up the capacity of local NGOs in the field.

According to Duong Quoc Trong, Director of the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Department , Vietnam detected 130,260 HIV-positive people, of whom 25,844 developed full blown AIDS by the end of July. A total of 14,507 patients throughout the country had succumbed to the virus.

In the first seven months of this year alone, an additional 13,695 people were discovered to be infected with HIV, including 4,593 with full-blown AIDS. Around 2,072 people died of the disease during the period.

The figures represent two-fold, three-fold and 2.4-fold increases over the same period last year, respectively.

A campaign to promote voluntary HIV testing will also take place in six key provinces and cities nationwide from December 1-31.

The month-long campaign will focus on providing voluntary HIV/AIDS counselling and testing (VCT) services at 21 centres operated under the LIFE-GAP project in Ho Chi Minh City , Hanoi, Haiphong, Can Tho, northern Quang Ninh province and the Mekong Delta province of An Giang .

The programme, jointly held by the Health Ministry’s HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Department and the Population Services International (PSI), is part of the country’s HIV/AIDS prevention communication campaign between November 10 and December 10.

Since the first LIFE-GAP supported VCT centre opened in Haiphong in 2002, 53 sites have been established in 40 provinces and cities, serving around 50,000 clients annually.