Vietnam Health Ministry Finds Additional 1,500 People Infected with HIV

The Vietnam Administration of HIV/AIDS Control  (VAAC) under the Ministry of Health have found an additional 1,500 people with HIV in the first quarter this year, bringing the total HIV cases in Vietnam to 230,000, the An Ninh Thu Do newspaper reported on May 14. A report have shown that prostitutes carrying HIV in Hanoi have reached 17%, 5 times higher than Ho Chi Minh City’s rate, Mr. Vo Hai Son from the agency noted, adding that though this is a small survey on 200 to 250 people and the national prostitutes carrying HIV is 3%. Meanwhile, the number of pregnant women carrying HIV is increasing, which poses danger with probability of HIV transmission from mother to child from 15% to 40%. The reasons are that people’s awareness in remote areas is limited, some still stigmatize and discriminate pregnant women carrying HIV, and some do not test HIV. Vietnam targets to bring down the HIV transmission from mother to child rate to 5% this year, said Nguyen Thi Huong Lan from VAAC. At the meeting, the National Committee for AIDS, Drugs, and Prostitution Prevention and Control have announced plan to promote June to be “Month to Prevent HIV transmission from mother to child”. Regional medical services will push for HIV test on pregnant women, and make sure pregnant women carrying HIV will be taken care of with ARV to prevent HIV transmission. According to statistics from the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, there were nearly 33,000 prostitutes working in Vietnam in 2013. The number of sex workers in Vietnam was 9% higher than the number working in 2012. (An Ninh thu Do – Capital Securities May 14 p8, VOV.vn May 13)