Implement the plan of HIV/AIDS prevention and control in 2022 of the National Committee for AIDS Prevention and Control and the prevention and control of drug and prostitution crimes and respond to World AIDS Day, the National Committee for Prevention and Control. , AIDS and drug and prostitution prevention and control launched nationwide National Action Month for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control 2022 from November 10 to December 10, 2022, with the theme "Dots" End the AIDS epidemic - Youth ready!"

* Reduce by more than two-thirds the number of new infections and the number of deaths due to HIV/AIDS

According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, since the first case was detected in 1990 in Ho Chi Minh City, In Ho Chi Minh City, as of October 2022, the whole country has about 220,580 people living with HIV, and over 112,360 people living with HIV have died. In the 10 months of 2022, the whole country tested 9,025 new cases of HIV infection, and several patients died 1,378 cases. The number of newly discovered HIV infections is concentrated mainly in the age group 16-29 (48.6%) and 30-39 (28.4%). The main route of transmission is unsafe sex (81.6%).

Over the years, Vietnam has made great efforts to implement many HIV/AIDS prevention and control solutions. Specifically, HIV/AIDS prevention and control communication and youth communication have been diversified and effective, through many media events in industrial parks, schools, and multimedia. Along with that, Vietnam also continues to maintain the implementation of harm reduction interventions, including the distribution of needles, condoms, and lubricants for high-risk groups, especially focusing on high-risk groups. for men who have sex with men (MSM) (more than 100,000 MSMs were reached in the first 10 months of 2022).

HIV screening has covered 100% of the district level with more than 1,300 facilities and HIV confirmation testing has covered 100% of provinces/cities with 204 confirmed laboratories. HIV confirmatory testing is extended to the district level with 97 confirmatory laboratories. The HIV confirmation laboratory system is also being piloted using 3 rapid tests in mountainous and remote areas. New infection testing has been deployed in 28 provinces/cities across the country. At the same time, maintain, expand and improve the quality of treatment for opiate addiction with Methadone replacement drugs, contributing to controlling HIV infection among injecting drug users. As of September 30, 2022, more than 51,000 patients participated in treatment, of which nearly 3,000 were given medicines to take home.

Regarding the implementation of new-generation preventive measures, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is deployed in a variety of ways through TelePrEP, online PrEP, OS, mobile... customer growth faster than other countries in the region. As of August 31, 2022, over 40,000 customers had access to PrEP services at least once during the reporting period (reaching 88.9% of the target of 45,000 customers in 2022); the number of customers maintaining PrEP treatment for more than 3 consecutive months reached 69.6%; 80.4% of PrEP clients are MSMs.

Regarding HIV/AIDS treatment, there are currently 499 treatment facilities, of which 362 are providing ARV treatment with health insurance for a total of over 167,000 patients, of which over 3,400 are children, and over 163,500 Adults. Expanded ARV treatment through health insurance. The rate of patients on ART with a viral load below the suppression threshold reached 96% and Vietnam is one of the few countries to achieve this rate.

In addition, in recent years, Vietnam has increased the provision of HIV/AIDS prevention and control services in 31 prisons and 35 detention camps; expanding the implementation of hepatitis C treatment for HIV patients and Methadone patients; promoting the application of technology in HIV epidemic management and surveillance...

With efforts to comprehensively and effectively implement solutions for HIV/AIDS prevention and control, Vietnam has reduced by more than two-thirds the number of new infections and deaths from HIV/AIDS compared to 10 years ago. HIV infection rate decreased rapidly among injecting drug users (from 28.6% in 2004 to 12.7% in 2019) and female sex workers (from 5.9% in 2002 to 3.1% in 2020); Vietnam maintains its target of controlling the rate of HIV infection in the population at less than 0.3% (currently estimated at 0.26%), reducing the impact of HIV/AIDS on health and economic development. socio-economic of the country.

* Strengthening HIV/AIDS prevention and control in schools and industrial zones

Despite the positive results, the HIV/AIDS situation is still complicated. Monitoring data of the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Department (Ministry of Health) shows that HIV/AIDS tends to increase in some localities; the HIV infection rate among injecting drug users is still above 12%; especially, the HIV infection rate in MSM group tends to increase very rapidly in recent years (from 3.9% in 2011 to 5.1% in 2015 and 13.3% in 2020).

Worryingly, people living with HIV are rapidly aging and the main route of transmission is through unprotected sex, especially male sex. The age group 15-24 years old increases rapidly in the number of new findings, from 4.0% in 2012 to 25.6% in 2021.

Regarding the knowledge, attitude, and practice of HIV/AIDS prevention and control of young people, according to the population census in 2021, the rate of comprehensive understanding of HIV prevention among women aged 15-24 years old accounts for only 39.8%, in men this age is 48.7%. Even for children with college or university degrees or higher, the rate of comprehensive understanding of HIV infection prevention is only 39.8% for girls and 48.7% for men. Thus, this age group has very limited knowledge and attitude compared to the common goal set of 80% in both indicators.

Along with limited knowledge about HIV/AIDS, 14% of males in the 15-24 age group had more than 1 sexual partner (in the 12 months before the interview date). This is an important factor leading to unsafe sex that increases the risk of HIV infection and sexually transmitted diseases.

Faced with the situation that the HIV/AIDS epidemic is strongly affecting young people, in 2021, the Ministry of Health, the Standing Agency for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control of the National Committee for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Drug and prostitution problems have sent documents to the Ministry of Education and Training and the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor on strengthening HIV/AIDS prevention and control in schools and industrial zones.

Action plans and programs have been developed and implemented in several schools and industrial parks in provinces and cities with an increasing epidemic situation such as Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Long An, and Hai Phong. ... However, these activities are stopping the form of models, piloting and funded by funding, but have not become regular and continuous active activities in provinces and cities across the country.

According to the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Department (Ministry of Health), to improve the knowledge, attitude, and practice of HIV/AIDS for youth, it is necessary to have the support of youth unions at all levels in proactively implementing HIV/AIDS activities. communication activities suitable to the conditions of each of their units. Through direct and indirect communication channels, especially through the internet.

For young people who are pupils and students, it is necessary to strengthen the provision of information on HIV/AIDS, gender, reproductive health, and safe sex; harmful effects of drugs; warning the risk of HIV infection among young people through extra-curricular classes, seminars, talks, writing contests on HIV/AIDS, theater activities; integrated into rallies, media events at high schools, universities, colleges, and professional secondary schools. Strengthen communication on anti-stigmatization and discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS, measures to prevent HIV infection, and the benefits of early access to prevention, care, and support services. HIV infection to raise awareness and change the behavior of students.

For young workers, it is necessary to strengthen communication activities on HIV/AIDS prevention and control on information and communication channels of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor and businesses, focusing on several contents: knowledge about HIV/AIDS and prevention measures; access and use HIV/AIDS prevention and control services; reduce stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV... Organize distribution of media publications, seminars, events, and other appropriate forms of communication on HIV/AIDS prevention and control at companies belonging to industrial zones with many male workers from some HIV/AIDS key provinces, especially in large industrial zones.

The Prime Minister signed Decision No. 1246/QD-TTg dated August 14, 2020, on the National Strategy to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030. Before that, Resolution No. 20-NQ/TW dated October 25/ 2017 by the Central Committee on strengthening the protection, care, and improvement of people's health, has also set a goal by 2030 that Vietnam ends the AIDS epidemic. The formulation of a new Strategy is an urgent requirement to ensure the full and timely concretization of the Party's guidelines and guidelines on HIV/AIDS prevention and control and to be suitable to the new situation.

The end of the AIDS epidemic does not mean that there are no more people infected with HIV or no more deaths from AIDS, but the end of the AIDS epidemic means that then AIDS is no longer a worrisome health problem in the community. The goal of ending the AIDS epidemic is when Vietnam achieves the following criteria: The number of HIV-infected people detected is less than 1,000 cases per year (currently > 10,000 cases/per year). The rate of people living with HIV/AIDS-related deaths is <1/100,000 population (currently, it is estimated at 3.5 people/100,000 population). The rate of HIV transmission from mother to child is <2% (currently 6%).

Via: vtv.vn