Senior officials
from the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health
Organisation (WHO) have commended Vietnam for its progress in combating HIV/AIDS
at a joint press briefing for World AIDS Day (December 1), in Hanoi on November
30.

The political commitment shown by
the Government of Vietnam in response to HIV over the past 20 years has led to
positive results in scaling up prevention and treatment, including harm
reduction amongst drug users and the provision of life-saving treatment for
people living with HIV, according to Steve Kraus, UNAIDS Asia-Pacific Regional
Director, and Gottfried Hirnschall, WHO’s Director of HIV/AIDS Department.

“We have seen significant progress
in Vietnam,” said Kraus. “The rate of new HIV infections has stabilised and
there are fewer people dying from HIV.”

However, to sustain this progress,
he said, Vietnam needs to continue to expand and increase its efforts to ensure
that key affected populations such as sex workers and drug addicts have access
to comprehensive HIV services without stigmatisation. In addition, Vietnam
should also commit higher levels of its domestic budget to AIDS.

In Vietnam, the HIV epidemic is
mainly amongst people who inject drugs, sex workers and men who have sex with
men. A study in 2009 found that the prevalence of HIV amongst female sex workers
in 10 provinces was 8.5 percent and in some areas, the rate amongst drug users
was more than 50 percent.

Across Vietnam, an estimated 250,000
people are currently living with HIV and about 50,000 have already died from
AIDS.

According to Hirnschall, Vietnam has
succeeded in increasing antiretroviral treatments by 16-times over the past five
years, saving many more lives.

An estimated 54 percent of people in
need of antiretroviral treatment were receiving it in 2009. However, many
mothers and children lack mother-to-child transmission prevention services.

Underlining 2010 World AIDS Day’s
theme of “universal access and human rights”, Hirnschall remains committed to
supporting Vietnam in developing responses over the coming decades.

* US-based BD helps improve HIV lab quality

BD (Becton, Dickinton and Company) will assist the
Central Tropical Disease Hospital to establish a centre in support of HIV
testing under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in Hanoi on November
30.

The centre will provide consultancy
and double checking of cell analysis by Flow Ctytometry therapy and manage HIV
lab quality.

Under the MoU, the US-based medical
technology company will supply and install free of charge a FACSCount TM and a
FACSCount TM II system and provide chemicals for running HIV carrier supervising
equipment.

The leading medical technology
company will also help in training staff to conduct research on relevant
products and provide technical assistance in receiving and managing samples
through vacutainer blood collection tubes.

BD will also share experience in
developing standard operations, help conduct research on management of lab
operations, provide equipment and establish technical groups.

The Director of the Central Tropical
Disease Hospital, Nguyen Van Kinh, said as the main hospital providing medical
checks and treatment for HIV carriers, his hospital had received an increasing
number of HIV carriers in need of treatment with accidental infection antibiotic
and HIV antiretroviral drugs. The hospital operation has, therefore, demanded
extreme accuracy in TCD4 cell lab testing and counting.

The establishment of the centre will
help meet the hospital demand, said the hospital chief.

VietNamNet/VOV/VNA