Vietnam has set up a state AIDS control strategy for the 2001-2005 period to curb the spread of the HIV/AIDS in the country.
Under the strategy, as many as 40 provinces and cities of the country will be able to evaluate and provide information on HIV/AIDS infection in their localities, according to a report of a local business newspaper Vietnam Investment Review on Monday.
The strategy with the minimum investment capital of 714 billion Vietnamese dong (VND) (US$47.6 million) also includes screening of 100 percent of blood banks for HIV before any transfusions are carried out.
By 2005, 90 percent of the infected patients and all infected pregnant women are to receive care and counseling. Pilot centers will be set up for the country's HIV infected children, initially in provinces where there are more than 1,000 HIV carriers.
The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Vietnam is spreading at an explosive rate with the total number of HIV-infected people rising to 46,344, of which 6,708 have developed AIDS.
It is estimated that by 2005 the number of Vietnamese people infected with HIV will reach 200,000, of which more than 50,000 will develop AIDS and 45,000 will die.
(Xinhua News Agency May 6, 2002)
