Vietnam reports doubling in HIV cases since 1996
HANOI - The number of people infected with the Human
Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in Vietnam has
more than doubled to 8,708 cases since the
start of 1996, an official said on Wednesday.
The official at the National AIDS Protection
Committee told Reuters that more than 1,200
had developed full-blown AIDS while 644
people had died from the disease in this country
of 78 million people.
Unofficial estimates indicate the figure is much
higher.
At the beginning of 1996, Vietnam officially
had 3,375 sufferers.
The English-language Vietnam News daily said
on Wednesday that HIV-positive people had
been found in 57 of the country's 61 provinces.
Southern Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon,
had the most HIV sufferers with 2,638 cases.
Last year Vietnam declared that by the year
2000 between 140,000 to 180,000 people
would be infected with HIV, which leads to
AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency
Syndrome), and up to 25,000 sufferers would
die.
Vietnam has a thriving prostitution industry and
a growing problem with drug use.
Hanoi has responded to the incidence of AIDS
with public propaganda and education
campaigns aimed at abolishing traditional taboos
on the discussion of sexual matters.
REUTERS, June 17, 1998.
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