Vietnam Keeps HIV Pandemic under Control for 11th Straight Year: UNAIDS

Vietnam has kept the HIV/AIDS pandemic under control for 11th consecutive years as of 2019, with the decreases in the numbers of new infections, people entering the AIDS phase, and AIDS-related deaths, an official from the Joint United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) has said. Mr. Eamonn Murphy, director of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Asia and the Pacific, made the remarks at a ceremony in the northern province of Bac Giang on December 1 in response to the National Action Month against HIV/AIDS and the World AIDS Day. The UNAIDS official lauded Vietnam’s implementation of prevention intervention, care, support, and treatment services for people living with HIV. Vietnam is also one of the few countries that have had HIV/AIDS treatment, including antiretroviral (ARV) therapy, covered by health insurance, he noted. Ms. Caryn McClelland, deputy chief of U.S. Mission in Vietnam, praised the role of community in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The U.S. Government, through President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), is committed to continuing the close cooperation with the Vietnamese government, with vulnerable populations and affected communities, and with partners towards the goal to end HIV epidemic in Vietnam, she affirmed. In his speech, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, also head of the National Committee for AIDS, Drugs, and Prostitution Prevention and Control highlighted Vietnam’s efforts in fighting the epidemic. He expressed his hope that the country will realize its commitments to the UN organizations and become one of the nations taking the lead in ending the pandemic. Deputy PM Dam took the occasion to thank all donors and relevant agencies for their support to prevent HIV in Vietnam, especially the U.S. government’s PEPFAR. Earlier on November 29, Mr. Dam hosted a meeting for Mr. Eamonn Murphy, calling for more support from the organization in the work. As of November 18, Vietnam had 209,980 HIV/AIDS carriers, with 96,990 entering the AIDS stage, while 98,470 people had been killed by the epidemic, according to the government-run General Statistics Office (GSO). (CAND, Bao Chinh Phu, Bao Chinh Phu, VietnamNews, VOVgiaothong, Bao Dan Sinh, InfoNet, viettimes, giadinh, Vietnam Plus, Tin Tuc, Bao Chinh Phu, VOV, en.Nhan Dan)