Hanoi (VNA) – The ceremony to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program took place on May 9 in Hanoi.
Speaking at the event, U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Marc E. Knapper pointed out that Vietnam has been the only country in Asia to receive centralized PEPFAR funding since the program’s inception. . Over the next 10 years, the United States remained the largest donor to Vietnam’s HIV/AIDS prevention and control program.
From 2021 to 2022, in Vietnam, PEPFAR provided important techniques to support access to antiretroviral (ARV) drugs for 8,727 HIV carriers and maintain ARVs for at least 89,000 patients on treatment. In addition, PEPFAR also focuses on integrated prevention, helping people access comprehensive prevention services, including HIV testing and counselling, pre-exposure prevention, and strategic communication.
At the event, US Goodwill Ambassador John N. Nkengasong said challenges in HIV/AIDS prevention and control are still many. Therefore, the two sides should cooperate more closely, he stressed.
Ambassador John N. Nkengasong expressed his belief that Vietnam will continue to make a lot of progress in meeting the HIV/AIDS treatment targets of the UN program for cooperation in combating the HIV/AIDS pandemic. AIDS (UNAIDS). PEPFAR wishes to continue to support Vietnam on this journey.
For her part, Vietnamese Health Minister Dao Hong Lan said that HIV/AIDS prevention and control efforts in Vietnam have lasted more than 30 years and achieved many important achievements. Vietnam has gradually brought the HIV epidemic under control on three criteria: reduction in the number of new infections detected, reduction in the number of people transitioning to AIDS and reduction in the number of AIDS-related deaths. Vietnam has kept the infection rate in its population below 0.3%.
According to Minister Dao Hong Lan, along with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, PEPFAR is one of the two largest donors to Vietnam’s HIV/AIDS prevention and control program. Since 2004, Vietnam has become the 15th country in the world to receive support from the US administration through the US President’s Emergency Relief Plan for HIV/AIDS prevention and control. PEPFAR is supporting 11 key locations with the highest number of people living with HIV, representing 45.2% of the country.
Over the past 20 years, PEPFAR and the said Global Fund have at one time provided up to 90% of ARV drugs to those infected, helping to prolong and improve the quality of life of more than 100,000 people living with HIV.-VNA
2023-05-09 09:18:00
#United #States #bedside #Vietnam #prevention #control #HIVAIDS #Health
