Vietnam is sitting on a volcano of an AIDS outbreak. It is estimated to have 260,000 people living with HIV in 2005, a 12-fold increase since 1995. Major health risks faced by this East Asian country are the spread of HIV/AIDS from vulnerable sections of society to the general population and an overall concerted effort to broad base the treatment. Another critical threat faced is the increasingly high number of people living with HIV/AIDS needing Antiretroviral Treatment (ART). Consequently, close to 35,000 AIDS victims will need treatment, though only about 10 per cent of them have access to it. By the year 2008, this number is estimated to rise to nearly 58,000and to 73,000 in 2010.
In the latest of initiatives, Ho Chi Minh City will expand access to no-cost HIV/AIDS treatment for pregnant women to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Ho Chi Minh City, which has HIV prevalence greater than 1 per cent, had 684 HIV-positive women of the total 133,622 pregnant. Of these 90 per cent received no-cost antiretroviral and their infants received formula for six weeks at no cost. The program provides pre and postnatal care, HIV follow-up tests, and free antiretroviral drugs for HIV-positive pregnant women and their infants. It also aims to improve links between obstetric hospitals, children's hospitals and district health care centers to ensure effective care for pregnant women and their infants.
Vietnam has met with moderate success in its HIV/AIDS treatment strategy. Vietnam had followed methadone therapy, free syringe exchange programs and condom-use promotion activities. Meanwhile, a high-level delegation of the WHO is scheduled to visit Vietnam mid-October to study the country's initiatives to control HIV/AIDS and address important challenges ahead. Points of discussion will be strengthening WHO-government collaboration, especially in the areas of harm reduction, care and treatment, and monitoring and evaluation of the response.
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