A total of VND678 billion (US$38.7 million) will be set aside for HIV/AIDS prevention this year, officials have said.

Part of the sum will be spent on providing antiretroviral (ARV) treatment to an estimated 32,000 people living with HIV/AIDS and to help health workers exposed to the virus through their work gain easy access to necessary treatment.

With this funding, up to 90 percent of HIV-infected pregnant mothers can now be given ARV treatment. They will also be educated on how to prevent transmitting the virus to their children.

The department reported that an additional 20,260 people across the country contracted the HIV virus last year, of whom 7,452 have developed AIDS while 3,526 died of the disease.

Ho Chi Minh City has the largest number of HIV carriers, with more than 34,000 people, accounting for 25.8 percent of the country’s total.

In 2008, 207 district-level clinics were set up nationwide to provide ARV medicines to over 27,000 people living with HIV/AIDS.

Approximately 6,000 educators and their assistants took part in drives to disseminate information about the danger of the virus in over half of the country’s districts.

Source: VNA