A doctor gives advice to an HIV patient at the healthcare centre of Nam Tu Liem district, Hanoi (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – (PrEP) service for HIV prevention was
officially launched in Hanoi on April 16.
PrEP allows people who do not
have HIV but are at substantial risk of infection to prevent HIV by taking a
pill every day, as part of a combination HIV prevention strategy.
Phan Thi Thu Huong, vice director of the Vietnam Administration for HIV/AIDS
Control of the Ministry of Health, said PrEP is extremely effective when taken correctly, and would reduce the
risk of HIV infection via unsafe sex by 90 percent or via injection drug use by
70 percent.
According to vice director of the Health Department of Hanoi Hoang Duc Hanh,
the service will first be provided at the Dong Da healthcare centre, Long Bien
healthcare centre, and Hanoi Medical University before it is expanded in Hanoi.
PrEP was first piloted in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in 2016. The
service is being provided in eight clinics in Hanoi.
The Ministry of Health made it part of the direction for HIV/AIDS care and
treatment in 2017 and passed a plan to roll out the service for the 2018-2020
in 2018 with the provision of free antiretroviral drugs for HIV treatment.
During this expansion period, the
in coordination with projects and organizations made available at 43
private and state clinics in 11 provinces and cities. Over 2,000 people are
using the service.
By the end of 2018, the number of alive HIV carriers in Vietnam was estimated
at 250,000, with 10,000 new infections found a year.
Provinces and cities reported in 2018 that HIV infections reduced significantly
in the groups of drugs addicts (from 29-30 percent to 9-10 percent) and sex
workers (from 5 percent to 3.4 percent) but rose in the group of men having sex
with men (from 7.4 percent to 11.4 percent).
It is estimated that
Vietnam has around 174,000 men having sex with men (MSM) aged from 15-49,
including over 30,000 in Hanoi (or 17.5 percent).
Since 2015, the World Health
Organization has strongly recommended PrEP as an additional prevention choice
for people at substantial risk of HIV.-VNA
Source: VietnamPlus
