Vietnam faces HIV expansion, insufficient treatment: WHO

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Vietnam faces HIV expansion, insufficient treatment: WHO

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</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="cap" colspan="2" align="left">WHO representative Hans Troedsson</td> <td align="left" width="5">
</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> The spread of HIV/AIDS from vulnerable groups to the general population and stronger need for treatment of the disease are major challenges to Vietnam, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said Friday.




[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Vietnam, where most of people living with HIV/AIDS are from at-risk populations such as drug users and sex workers, was facing the risk of the disease's expansion to the general population, Hans Troedsson WHO Resident Representative, said at a press briefing in Hanoi.

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[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]He noted that the Southeast Asian country and the WHO "need to know more about men having sex with men in Vietnam."

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[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Another immediate, critical threat faced by Vietnam was the increasingly high number of people living with HIV/AIDS needing antiretroviral treatment (ART).

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[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Vietnam could provide treatment to only a limited number of the people due to complexity in establishing and running facilities offering lifetime treatment to the patients, he said.

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[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]As a result, "an estimate of 35,000-36,000 AIDS patients [in Vietnam] need treatment, but only more than 10 percent of them have treatment," he said.

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[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]The number of those in need of the treatment is estimated at 57,600 in 2008 and 73,000 in 2010 based on ART expansion plans with already committed resources, including those from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

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[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]"With high political commitment, Vietnam is making good progress in prevention and control of HIV/AIDS," he also stressed.

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[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]At the press briefing, Heather O'Donell, project officer at the WHO in Vietnam, said the country has effectively learned from other countries? experiences and initiatives to fight the disease.

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[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Vietnam had followed methadone therapy, free syringe exchange programs and condom-use promotion activities from such countries as Australia, Cambodia, China and Thailand, she noted.

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[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]A high-level delegation of the Geneva-based organization will come to Vietnam next week to learn the country's initiatives to control HIV/AIDS and address important challenges ahead.

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[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]The head of the delegation, Dr. Kevin De Cock, director of the WHO's HIV/AIDS Department, is expected to meet with Vietnamese government officials, donors and partner agencies in Hanoi.

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[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]The two sides will discuss ways to strengthen and advocate the health sector's response to HIV/AIDS and WHO-government collaboration, especially in the areas of harm reduction, care and treatment, and monitoring and evaluation of the response.

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[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Vietnam is estimated to have 260,000 people living with HIV in 2005, a 12-fold increase since 1995.

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[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Over 13,000 local people died of AIDS last year, according the local WHO office.

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[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Vietnam plans to reduce the HIV/AIDS infection rate among its 83-million population to below 0.3 percent by 2010, and keep it unchanged after 2020.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Source: Thanh Nien, VNA
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http://www.thanhniennews.com/healthy/?catid=8&newsid=20916
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