The Government has approved VND3.7 trillion (USD177.28 million) in funds for a programme to prevent HIV/AIDS through 2015.
Students in Hanoi studying information about HIV/AIDS prevention
The funding is expected to cut down the number of people who contract HIV/AIDS in the community to less than 0.3%, according to the official targets of the programme. The targets were set in the context of a wider programme on HIV/AIDS prevention through 2020 with a vision toward 2030.
The Government set a target that by 2015, 60% of people, aged between 15 and 49, will be accurately informed about the dangers and prevention methods of the disease. This information programme was designed to eradicate widespread misunderstandings about how HIV/AIDS is contracted and decrease the stigmas attached to the disease.
The Government has set a goal to reduce the HIV/AIDS infection rate among drug users to under 15%, among sex industry workers to less than 5% and among homosexual men to under 10% during this period.
Another target set was that 70% of those already infected have access to treatment with drugs such as ARV in the same period.
The programme, which lasts from 2012-2015 includes four separate projects on education about prevention and changing people's attitudes concerning the disease, the development of a system of effective treatment, creating more effective health services to stop the transmission from mother to child and building capacity to efficiently prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in areas under the direct management of the Central Government.
The Ministry of Health will be responsible for managing the programme and supervise its implementation.
