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Health Sector Response Critical In Fight Against HIV/AIDS: WHO |
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Friday, 06 October 2006 |
HA
NOI- A high-level WHO delegation will meet with Vietnamese Government
officials, donors and partner agencies next week to learn initiatives
from Viet Nam's health sector response to HIV/AIDS and address
important challenges ahead for the prevention, control and treatment of
the disease.
Dr. Kevin De Cock, Director of the HIV/AIDS
Department, WHO Headquarters and Head of Mission is expected to discuss
ways to strengthen and advocate the health sector response to HIV/AIDS
and WHO-Government collaboration specifically in the areas of harm
reduction, care and treatment, and monitoring and evaluation of the
response.
Following the "3 by 5" initiative, WHO identified five
Strategic Directions to support member states to accelerate the health
sector response, which includes testing and counselling; care and
treatment; and prevention of HIV transmission through injecting drug
use, sexual intercourse, and from mother-to-child.
"While fully
recognizing the importance of multi-sectoral collaboration, WHO
believes that the health sector needs to play a major role in scaling
up HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment in line with the national
strategy targets," said Dr. Hans Troedsson, WHO Representative in Viet
Nam. "The health sector in Viet Nam has prepared itself for fighting
against HIV/AIDS and now has a substantial potential for success," he
added.
Viet Nam faces several challenges in the fight against
HIV/AIDS. Two immediate, critical threats include the expansion of the
HIV epidemic from most at-risk populations such as injecting drug users
and female sex workers to the general population, and a rapid increase
in the number of people in need of care and treatment projected in the
coming years.
"The health sector plays an essential role in harm
reduction for injecting drug users and sex workers, especially in
countries like Viet Nam where the HIV/AIDS epidemic is concentrated
among these populations and has started to spread into the general
population," said Dr. Troedsson. "Equally important is the provision
of comprehensive treatment, care and support for people living with HIV
and AIDS whose numbers are projected to increase drastically over the
next few years," he added.
In 2005, an estimated 260,000 people
were living with HIV, a 12-fold increase since 1995. Of these, 37,000
were new infections. Approximately 36,000 people were in need of
antiretroviral treatment (ART), but only 5,000 had access to these
drugs in August 2006. The number of those in need of the treatment is
projected to increase to 57,600 in 2008 and to 73,000 in 2010 based on
ART expansion plans with already committed resources.
In the year 2005 alone, more than 13,000 people died of AIDS in Viet Nam.
The
WHO mission is expected to result in a better understanding of the
importance of the health sector response to HIV/AIDS among national and
international partners and highlight WHO's role in supporting the
scaling-up of activities.
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All content is (c) 2006-2010 Harvard Medical School AIDS Initiative in Vietnam.