Many hospitals in HCM City have detected more children who are infected HIV from their mothers.

Dr. Truong Huu Khanh from infectious disease ward from Paediatrics 1 Hospital said that the ward used to receive 1-2 new HIV-infected cases who were children in previous years. However, between January and September this year alone, the figure was up to 14 children who mostly come from other localities and are living in HCM City. 

So far this year, Gia Dinh People's Hospital has diagnosed six children who contracted HIV from their mothers. Meanwhile, the figure for Hung Vuong Hospital is three during the same period.

According to the HCM City Department of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control, the city detected 22 new cases of mother-to-child HIV transmission in the first eight months of this year, four higher than the same phase of last year.

The number of children who died of HIV/AIDS in the city was up to 11 since early this year.

In the first half of 2016, 563 pregnant women were diagnosed with HIV among the city’s total number of 618,500 who were given HIV tests.

Dr. Truong Huu Khanh said that at industrial parks and export processing zones in HCM City, many female workers were not provided with opportunities to get access to HIV infection preventive measures, resulting in their lack of awareness. Meanwhile, public discrimination also discourages HIV patients from revealing their disease.

Many international donors have cut their funding for Vietnam’s HIV/AIDS prevention and control programmes as the country was recognised as a middle-income country, which has added more difficulties in the country’s fight against lethal disease.

Doctors warned that children infected with HIV from mothers who gave up their ARV treatment will also face HIV treatment drug resistance.

Currently, there are over 215,600 people living with HIV in Vietnam, and 88,868 people living with AIDS. A total of 89,412 people have died from HIV/AIDS.

Vietnam will face a huge budget deficit in health services for people with HIV/AIDS in the next five years, an official from the HIV/AIDS Prevention Agency, Duong Thuy Anh, said at a conference on insurance payments for ARV therapy on November 28.

Anh said the State budget could only reserve VND100 billion (USD4.4 million) for ARV therapy in 2016-20, but the demand is for about VND600 billion (USD27 million).