Vietnam must step up HIV/AIDS prevention efforts to stem pandemic
Vietnam, like other Asian countries, is at a turning point with HIV/AIDS: it must launch a large-scale prevention program or face a rapid spread of the disease, said Nancy Fee, country co-ordinator of the joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
Fee made the statement last week at the launch of UNAIDS's and the World Health Organisation (WHO)'s AIDS Epidemic Update for December at Vietnam's third national conference on HIV/AIDS.
Fee said that despite the considerable progress in HIV/AIDS prevention and care, the scale of the programme was not large enough to stem the epidemic.
"We are seeing rapid growth of HIV/AIDS in a number of Asian countries, including Vietnam," Fee said. "At this point we need to start institutionalising the prevention, care, and treatment programme on a large scale to limit the epidemic."
According to the AIDS Epidemic Update, several of the epidemics in Asian and Oceania countries are increasing, particularly in China, Papua New Guinea and Vietnam. The most vulnerable groups, are drug users and sex workers.
Hans Troedsson, WHO country representative, emphasised the prevention and care treatment approach to curb the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
In terms of prevention, Troedsson said condoms and clean needles should be made readily available for high-risk groups.
Apart from extensive locally and foreign funded prevention and care programmes going on in Vietnam, Troedsson said the most promising breakthrough last year was the affordable treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS.
The AIDS Epidemic Update also revealed only one in 10 Africans and one in seven Asians were receiving antiretros by mid-2005. Because of the recent scale-up in treatment since the end of 2003, between 250,000 and 350,000 deaths were averted in 2005.
"However, the huge challenge for health sectors in Vietnam and other countries is that health sectors must be prepared for the prevention and care of between 5,000 and 10,000 new cases each year," he said.
Reports at the conference indicated that Vietnamese scientists had conducted more than 270 scientific studies on HIV/AIDS since 2000. The results of the studies were discussed to bring provinces and cities up to date on the topic in Vietnam.
In addition, participants of the conference shared experiences and knowledge in voluntary anonymous counselling, prevention, treatment, and policymaking.
Vietnam News Agency - November 27, 2005.
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