Addressing a conference to review 20 years of HIV/AIDS prevention and control in Vietnam held in Hanoi on Dec. 1, Vice President Doan emphasised the necessity of promoting information dissemination on HIV/AIDS through various channels, along with scientific research and international cooperation in HIV/AIDS prevention and control.
To achieve the Millennium Development Goal to halt and reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015, the Vice President said all ministries, branches, localities and all forces involved in the fight should raise awareness of the pandemic and show no discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS.
She took the occasion to highlight the achievements of the fight over the past 20 years.
The Ministry of Public Health built an HIV/AIDS prevention and control plan in 1987 and officially announced its fight against the pandemic since the country’s first HIV/AIDS case was announced in Ho Chi Minh City in December 1990, said Doan.
However, she said, the fight still faces difficulties in legal policy, discrimination in the community and a lack of qualified people working in the field.
For his part, Health Minister Nguyen Quoc Trieu said the conference aimed to draw lessons and work out plans for future activities.
The conference was also an opportunity to commend organisations and individuals on their outstanding contributions to the fight, said the minister.
For the purpose, Vice President Doan presented the first class Labour Order to the Vietnam Administration of HIV/AIDS Control (VAAC) and the third class Labour Order to eight units and nine individuals.
She also handed the Friendship Order to Earmon Murphy, Country Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS in Vietnam , and Mitchell Wolfe, former Country Director of the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in Vietnam .
The country now has 228,680 people infected with HIV/AIDS, including 48,368 people who have died of the disease.
To prevent the spread of the fatal disease, in 2010, 43 cities and provinces distributed safe syringes and needles and 60 cities and provinces distributed free condoms./.
