VN expects UNAIDS’ assistance for HIV treatment

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam (R) receives Eamonn Murphy, Director of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Asia and the Pacific in Ha Noi on November 29, 2019. Photo: VGP.

Deputy PM Dam made the call at his reception for Eamonn Murphy, Director of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Asia and the Pacific in Ha Noi on November 29.

Dam, who is Chairman of the National Committee for AIDS, Drug and Prostitution Prevention and Control, also asked the UNAIDS to work closely with the Vietnamese National Assembly and localities on sustainable policies for the fight against HIV/AIDS, and improving coordination capacity of the Committee.

Meanwhile, Murphy stated the UNAIDS directs global response to providing care for HIV/AIDS patients in Viet Nam, and works closely with other organizations to build and launch the national monitoring and evaluation framework on the HIV/AIDS prevention and control program.

Highly valuing the Southeast Asian country’s achievements in this domain, Murphy said the HIV/AIDS epidemics has been controlled below 0.3% with decreases in the number of new HIV/AIDS patients, that of those in transition to AIDS period, and that of fatalities by AIDS.

Viet Nam is one of the few countries globally to pay HIV treatment costs, including ARV drug via health insurance fund, Murphy highlighted.

Viet Nam strives to have 90% of people living with HIV to be diagnosed, 90 percent of people diagnosed with HIV to be on antiretroviral treatment, and 90% of people on treatment to have an undetectable viral load by 2030./.

By Quang Minh