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President Bush To Tour Vietnam's Pasteur Institute, Discuss HIV/AIDS Issues |
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Monday, 04 December 2006 |
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President Bush this week is scheduled to visit the Institut Pasteur
in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to learn about the institute's HIV/AIDS
and avian flu research and discuss Vietnam's prevention and awareness
efforts for both diseases, the AP/CNN International reports (Mason, AP/CNN International, 11/15). Officials with the U.S. and Vietnam's Ministry of Health in January signed an action plan for 2006 through 2008 covering HIV/AIDS-related programs funded by the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.
According to a joint press release issued earlier this year by the U.S.
Embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam, and the health ministry, Vietnam's
PEPFAR-funded programs aim by 2008 to provide antiretroviral drugs to
22,000 HIV-positive people and to provide care for 110,000 people
living with or affected by HIV/AIDS in the country. PEPFAR is a
five-year, $15 billion program that directs funding for HIV/AIDS,
tuberculosis and malaria to 15 focus countries, including Vietnam.
According to the health ministry, about 263,000 people are living with
HIV/AIDS in the country, but only 103,000 HIV/AIDS cases have been
reported. The government aims to reduce the country's HIV/AIDS
prevalence to below 0.3% by 2010. PEPFAR in 2005 provided $27 million
to Vietnam for HIV/AIDS prevention and care programs (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 1/20). According to Nancy Fee, UNAIDS
country coordinator, about 15%, or 5,500, of people in need of
antiretroviral treatment in Vietnam have access to it, compared with
less than 5% of people in need of treatment two years ago. Bush will
tour the Institut Pasteur after attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Hanoi (AP/CNN International, 11/15).
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All content is (c) 2006-2010 Harvard Medical School AIDS Initiative in Vietnam.