Vietnam - US helps prevent HIV/AIDS infection among addicts

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) on September 15 launched a project to improve treatment for drug addicts in support of HIV/AIDS prevention, funded by the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Deputy Head of the Social Evils Prevention Department Do Thi Ninh Xuan, who is director of the project said that the US$2.5 million project will be implemented from January 2011 to September 2014 in Ho Chi Minh City and the northern province of Thai Nguyen.

According to Xuan, the project’s long-term objective is to strengthen MoLISA’s capacity for drug addiction treatment and provide social support services through effective approaching methods in order to minimise drug users, improve the quality of life and reduce HIV infection among drug users and prostitutes in Vietnam.

The project will put in place a data collection and management system on drug addicts, prostitutes and addicted prostitutes and improve staff capacity for analysing and utilising the data.

Pilot models on community-based drug addiction treatment aim to provide services for about 500 patients.

Vietnam has close to 150,000 registered addicts and the number grows by 10,000 each year. By March 2010, there were nearly 210,000 HIV-infected people with 41.6 percent being drug addicts.

Source: VOV

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