Vietnam government delegation to head to US for HIV/drugs study tour
HANOI - A Vietnamese government delegation will travel to the United States next week for a study tour on HIV prevention among
drug addicts, the US embassy said. The 12-strong delegation, which will be led by Deputy Health Minister Pham Manh Hung, also
includes top officials from the public security, justice and labour ministries.
The group will review public health policies and HIV prevention and treatment activities for drug users during their September 3-14
visit, which is being sponsored by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The delegates will visit New York City
and Atlanta, where the CDC is headquartered, the embassy said in a statement on Thursday.
The United Nations, Western governments and international aid organizations are trying to persuade Vietnam to abandon its "social
evils" approach to intravenous drug users.
"Social evils" is the term used by the government to describe a wide group of illegal activities including those of drug addicts and
prostitutes, a hardline stance blamed for hindering efforts to contain the spread of HIV/AIDS in the Southeast Asian nation. Since
Vietnam's first HIV carrier was discovered in December 1990 in the southern metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City, more than 70,000
people have become infected with the virus in Vietnam, according to the health ministry.
Many international health experts, however, believe the real number of HIV carriers could be as high as 300,000. There are around
142,000 registered drug users in the communist-ruled country whose addiction is known to the authorities, but experts say that in
reality there are probably more than 200,000.
The official policy towards containing narcotics abuse is centred around sending repeat drug offenders to detention or detoxification
camps for 24 months. Experts, however, say harm-reduction policies involving information campaigns and needle exchanges are
needed, an approach the government has tentatively begun to explore.
Agence France Presse - August 28, 2003
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