At the launch event (Photo: VNA)aiming to raise public awareness of HIV/AIDS as a
which could be prevented and controlled was launched in
the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau on December 19.
The Undetectable=Untransmittable (or K=K in
Vietnamese) event was jointly organised by the management board of the
VAAC-US.CDC project, a collaboration between the Vietnam Administration of HIV/AIDS
Control and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to fight
HIV/AIDS in Vietnam, and the Ba Ria-Vung Tau province’s centre for HIV/AIDS
prevention and control.
Addressing the event, US Acting Consul
General in Ho Chi Minh City Timothy Liston affirmed that the
“Undetectable=Untransmittable” concept is a significant scientific discovery
which means that 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 campaign affirms the benefit
of ARV treatment for HIV patients, he added.
The “Undetectable=Untransmittable” message is
hoped to eradicate discrimination against people living with the virus and
encourage them to stick with the treatment.
However, the finding is only applicable for
the prevention of transmission through sexual activities, not for sharing
injection equipment.
According to Deputy Director of the
provincial Health Department Nguyen Van Thai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau records 4,596
people with HIV, with about 2,730 still alive. In 2019 alone, the province saw
198 new HIV infections.
Currently, 83.9 percent of people with HIV
in the province are aware of their status while 74.4 percent are under ARV
treatment, he noted.
Data show that since the first HIV case was
reported in Vietnam in December 1990, there have been 215,661 people living
with this virus and 103,616 deaths from .
In the first nine months of this year, 7,779
people became newly infected with HIV, 2,984 entered the AIDS phase, and 1,428
died from relevant illnesses in Vietnam./.
Source: VietnamPlus
