About 10,000 new HIV cases discovered in 2018
There were about 10,000 new HIV carriers detected in 2018, including 2,000 fatalities, equivalent to those in 2017.
The figure has so far raised the total number of living HIV patients to 208,800; up to 94,900 of them developed into AIDS and 98,500 were dead. The rate of HIV/AIDS infection was curbed below 0.3 percent.
The health sector launched awareness campaigns nationwide with hundreds of articles featuring HIV diagnosis and treatment towards the goal of diagnosing 90 percent of all HIV-positive persons, providing antiretroviral (ARV) therapy for 90 percent of those diagnosed and achieving viral suppression for 90 percent of those treated by 2020, thus eliminating AIDS by 2030 and using health insurance for HIV patients.
Localities distributed clean injection needles to nearly 106,000 drug abusers, condoms to over 62,000 others, 35,500 sex workers, 67,600 gays and nearly 16,500 wives and sexual partners of HIV patients in 52 cities and provinces.
The number of establishments offering methadone therapy rose from 294 in 2017 to 314 in 2018 in all the 63 cities and provinces, benefiting more than 54,200 patients, up about 3,000 from 2017.
The Healthy Ministry is studying a plan to treat drug addition by burpronorphine.
More than 1,300 medical stations nationwide are offering HIV testing services while ARV treatment is available in all the cities and provinces nationwide, with clinics offering the treatment rising from 401 in 2017 to 429 in 2018. ARV medicines were distributed at 652 medical stations, 32 prisons and two detention centres.
The rate of HIV/AIDS-infected patients joining health insurance has increased from 50 percent in October 2016 to nearly 90 percent now. All patients under ARV treatment in Ninh Thuan, Lai Chau, Cao Bang and Ca Mau provinces have been covered by health insurance.
The sector strives to diagnose HIV in key and high-risk areas, detention centres and mountainous areas.
It targets treating 140,000 patients by ARV therapy and pooling financial resources for HIV/AIDS prevention and control.
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