HẢI DƯƠNG — Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam has called on society as a whole to collaborate in meeting the United Nations’ 90-90-90 Goals in HIV/AIDS prevention and control by 2020. 
Đam made the call during a meeting held in the northern province of Hải Dương yesterday in response to the National Action Month for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control (November 10 – December 10) and World AIDS Day (December 1). 
The UN 90-90-90 Goals mean that by 2020, 90 per cent of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status, 90 per cent of all people with a diagnosed HIV infection will receive sustained antiretroviral (ARV) therapy, while 90 per cent of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression. 
In his speech, Đam said HIV/AIDS epidemics appeared for the first time 35 years ago, and was discovered in Việt Nam 25 years ago with 250,000 infection cases and over 90,000 deaths reported so far. 
Thanks to efforts of departments, agencies and organisations, HIV/AIDS infections and deaths have fallen in recent years. On top of international support, the Vietnamese government will allocate more budget for the fight against the epidemic and issue health insurance for HIV patients, the Deputy PM noted. 
Việt Nam is the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to commit to the UN 90-90-90 Goals, he said, adding that awareness campaigns should be enhanced to make it easier for HIV carriers to be treated with ARV and protect them from discrimination. 
According to the Health Ministry’s Việt Nam Authority of HIV/AIDS Control, the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS reported that there are more than 36.7 million living HIV carriers now and around 35 million have died of the disease. 
2017 is the 10th consecutive year that Viet Nam has seen decreases in the number of newly-discovered HIV infections, the number of transmissions to full-blown AIDS and the number of AIDS-caused deaths. Each year, about 10,000 new HIV infection cases are discovered in the country, with most infections transmitted through sexual contact. 
After the meeting, students and members of the armed forces took part in a parade to call on organisations and people to join the fight against HIV/AIDS. 
On the occasion, the Health Ministry’s Fund in Support of HIV/AIDS Patients granted VNĐ200,000 to 60 children under treatment in the provincial Centre for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control. 
Representatives from organisations and businesses also offered gifts to local children living with HIV. — VNS