Dien Bien Province is home to the largest number of HIV/AIDS-infected people due to its position as a centre for drug trafficking.

 Raising public awareness against HIV/AIDS in Dien Bien Province

As of this September, Dien Bien Province had recorded nearly 6,600 cases of HIV, with 30% having died so far. In the first nine months of 2012, 628 new cases were discovered. All nine districts and 91 of 112 wards and communes in the province now have HIV/AIDS infected people.

Transmission via blood is still the most common method of infection, being responsible for 79.29% of all cases. Sexual intercourse and transmission from mothers to children account for 17.84% and 2.67% of the cases respectively.

Most of those infected are still of working age with 80% of them aged from 21-39. Uncontrollable prostitution and drug dealing are said to be the main cause of the spike.

In order to control the number of HIV/AIDS infected cases, Dien Bien provincial authorities have carried out various programmes to raise people's awareness about the disease.

The authorities have also tightened monitoring over the province and opened programmes to care for infected children. Those people who take treatment will be given finance support to open businesses.

Methadone clinics in Vietnam are also showing positive results. As of August, 1,104 patients were under treatment. However, the government will need to quickly to reduce the alarmingly high number of HIV-infections across the country.