Vietnam detected 9,978 HIV carriers last year, raising the total
number of people having HIV/AIDS since the country's first HIV case
reported in December 1990 to 128,367, according to a local health
agency on Thursday.
Of the nearly 130,000 people, 25,219 have been AIDS patients, of
whom 14,042 have died, the Vietnam Administration of HIV/AIDS
Control under the Health Ministry said, noting that a large number
of HIV carriers are in the age bracket of 20-39, and drug addicts
or prostitutes.
The country plans to reduce the HIV/AIDS infection rate among
its 86-million population to below 0.3 percent by 2010, and keep it
unchanged after 2020.
Some pharmaceutical firms in Vietnam have recently intensified
production of AIDS drugs so that AIDS patients can have more
low-cost medicines, the administration said.
A German-Vietnamese joint venture, Stada Vietnam, has
established a new AIDS medicine producing plant in southern Binh
Duong province, which meets Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)
standards set by the European Union and the World Health
Organization.
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(Xinhua News Agency January 24, 2008)