(VOVworld) – The World Health Organization declared December 1st to be HIV/AIDS Day worldwide in 1988 and on December 1, 1997, the UNAIDS launched a global campaign to prevent the further spread of the disease.
Responding to World AIDS Day, the Vietnamese government has deployed a National Action Plan from November 10 to December 10 to rally people to the National Strategy on HIV/AIDS Prevention until 2020 and Vision to 2030. The plan is to raise HIV/AIDS awareness, improve treatment, minimize discrimination against HIV carriers, increase societal and family support for HIV carriers, and get patients involved in HIV/AIDS prevention and control activities.
Nguyen Thanh Long, Deputy Minister of Health, spoke at the plan’s launch ceremony. “I urge party Committees and administrations at all levels to get involved in the campaign. Suspected HIV carriers should undergo early testing and get prompt treatment if needed. People with HIV/AIDS should go to hospitals to get early, free treatment. Health insurance will cover their future treatment.”
Localities and sectors have shared their experience in mobilizing resources for HIV/AIDS prevention and control. Tieu Thi Thu Van, Director of Ho Chi Minh City’s Center for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control, says: “We need specific, feasible plans on combating HIV/AIDS to mobilize investors and partners. Successful implementation will help to attract investment from foreign donors.”
The UNAIDS goal is that by 2020 90% of all people with HIV will know their HIV status, 90% of all people with a diagnosed HIV infection will be undergoing antiretroviral therapy, and 90% of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression. The ultimate aim is to end the AIDS epidemics by 2030.
Vietnam is supporting the 90-90-90 targets. 2016 is the 9th consecutive year that Vietnam has seen a decline in the number of new HIV infections, the number of new AIDS patients, and the number of deaths from AIDS-related illnesses.