Vietnam to focus on women during World AIDS Day
Vietnam will focus on educating women for World AIDS Day to try to curb the country's alarming infection rate among females, U.N. and Vietnamese officials said Friday. Pregnant women are one of Vietnam's largest growing risk groups for HIV/AIDS, with infection rates increasing tenfold over the past seven years, according to the Ministry of Health. Women in general are increasingly vulnerable due to a lack of information about safe sex and limited access to reproductive health services, U.N. and government officials said.
"Both men and women must work together to transform the relationships, social norms and structure in ways that reduce the vulnerability of women and girls to HIV/AIDS," said Anthony Bloomberg, UNICEF representative in Vietnam. The Vietnamese Women's Union will hold a rally ahead of World AIDS Day on Dec. 1. It will also host a nationally televised women's panel discussion aimed at increasing awareness and prevention, and reducing the widespread stigma and discrimination faced by many Vietnamese infected with the virus.
While men still constitute the majority of Vietnam's infections, female sex workers also make up a sizable segment. Health experts have also voiced concern over the increasing number of low-risk women getting infected as the disease works its way into the general population.
U.S. President George W. Bush earlier this year named Vietnam one of 15 countries eligible for funding from America's US$15 billion (€11.35 billion) global AIDS plan in an attempt to keep the epidemic from exploding in the communist country. Since Vietnam's first HIV/AIDS case was detected in 1990 the country has recorded nearly 85,000 cases, of which 13,315 have developed full-blown AIDS and 7,595 have died, according to the Ministry of Health. However, some health officials believe the actual number of infected people is closer to 245,000.
The Associated Press - November 26, 2004
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