WB to grant $9 mln to VN’s fight against HIV/AIDS

As a help to minimize the fatal rate of HIV-infected people in Vietnam, the World Bank (WB) and the UK Department for International Development will continue to grant US$9 million for HIV/AIDS prevention in the country in 2013.The two agencies earlier jointly conducted the HIV/AIDS prevention project for Vietnam from 2005 to December 2012 in 42 provinces and cities in the country with a total cost of $65 million.The project helped reduce the rate of HIV/AIDS infectious cases to less than 3.6 percent among the group of female prostitutes, and less than 0.3 percent in the community last year. It has also helped ease impacts of HIV/AIDS on the country’s socio-economic development.According to the Vietnamese Ministry of Health’s Bureau of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment, there were over 200,000 Vietnamese having HIV as of December 2012. Among them, about 150,000 need antiretroviral (ARV) treatment.As required by the national HIV/AIDS program, 70 percent of them, or 105,000 people, are supposed to gain access to the medicine. However, only 67,000 patients have had this access till 2012.Of the VND3,700 billion ($180 million) dedicated for the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS in the 2012-2015 period, VND1,700 billion came from the central budget, 980 local budgets, VND705 billion in foreign aid and VND245 billion from other legal sources, the bureau said.The ultimate goals are to continue supplying ARV drugs to the current recipients and increase the number of new recipients, along with expanding provision of free, readily accessible HIV tests, training personnel and improving the treatment quality.Also according to the bureau, the ratio of Vietnamese HIV/AIDS patients being treated with ARV is lower than other countries in the region.Even in Cambodia, up to 90-95 percent of the patients can gain access to ARV, the bureau said.Tuoitrenews