Gov’t Plans To Provide ARV Treatment For 160,000 HIV Patients This Year

VGP – Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam urged subordinate levels to strive raise the number of HIV carriers receiving ARV treatment to 160,000 in 2021, up 10,000 from the previous year.

March 11, 2021 9:09 AM GMT+7

Dam, who is Chairman of the National Committee for HIV/AIDS, drug and prostitution prevention and control asked the Ministry of Information and Communications, National Television, Voice of Viet Nam, Viet Nam News Agency, Government Portal and press agencies to step up communication programs on HIV/AIDS, drug and prostitution prevention and control, with a focus on high-risk groups and hotspot areas.

He assigned the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs to coordinate with the Ministry of Public security, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Information and Communications, Viet Nam News Agency, and Government Portal to develop a communication plan for 2021-2025 period and submit to the Prime Minister for consideration and approval.

Viet Nam is one of four countries with the best HIV/AIDS treatment in the world along with Germany, the UK, and Switzerland, said Acting Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long last September.

The country’s rate of HIV patients receiving ARV treatment with a viral load below the inhibitory threshold reached 96% last year, contributing to reducing community HIV infection.

It has managed to keep the community HIV infection rate below 0.3% over the past decade./.

By Thuy Dung