An HIV patient in Hanoi receives ARV treatment (Photo: VNA)– A workshop on a aiming to raise public awareness of
HIV/AIDS as a which could be prevented and controlled took
place in Hanoi on August 6.
According to Assoc.
Prof., Dr Nguyen Hoang Long, head of the Vietnam Administration for Control under
the Ministry of Health, when levels of HIV virus in the blood of patients under
Antiretrovaral (ARV) treatment are undetectable, the risk of HIV transmission via
sexual activities remains very low or negligible.
Therefore, the “Undetectable=Untransmittable”
campaign is built on a new scientific discovery affirming the benefit of ARV
treatment for HIV patients, he added.
It is hoped to erase
discrimination against people living with the virus and encourage them to stick
with the treatment.
However, Long noted
that the finding is only applicable for the prevention of transmission through
sexual activities, not for sharing injection equipment.
The national campaign
will be launched in major localities listed in the US President’s Emergency
Plan for AIDS Relief – (PEPFAR), namely Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Thai Nguyen and
Hanoi in the north and Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Long An, Binh Duong, Ho Chi Minh City,
Tay Ninh, Tien Giang and Dong Nai in the south.
Currently, Vietnam has
230,000 people living with HIV, 20 percent of them in HCM City.
It is alarming that
while HIV infections are reduced significantly in high-risk groups such as drug
addicts (from 29-30 percent to 9-10 percent) and sex workers (from 5 percent to
3.4 percent), the rate is rising in the group of men having sex with men (from
7.4 percent to 11.4 percent), according to 2018 statistics.-VNA
Source: VietnamPlus
