Hanoi (VNA) – Deputy
Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong and many Party and State senior
officials joined about 3,500 Hanoians in a grand meeting and march on
Nov. 30 to mark the World AIDS Day (Dec. 1).
Meanwhile,
millions of people in 53 provinces and cities throughout the country
also took part in meetings at provincial, district and commune levels
in a wide movement to raise public’s awareness of AIDS and prevention
of the impact of the AIDS pandemic.
Deputy PM Trong, Chairman
of the National Committee for Prevention Control of AIDS, Drug Abuse
and Prostitution, called on all organisations, agencies, and
individuals to actively participate in preventing the spread of AIDS.
He
affirmed that the meetings and marches across the country reflect the
consensus of the entire Party and people in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
The event marked a new HIV/AIDS prevention movement which involves
every individual, every family and the community, especially HIV
carriers, the Deputy PM said.
By October 31, 2008, Vietnam had
detected 135,171 people with HIV, including 29.134 AIDS patients, and
41,418 of them died. People with HIV have been detected in all
provinces and cities, 97.52 per cent of districts and 69.93 percent of
communes and wards across the country.
Nguyen Thi Hai, a
representative of people with HIV, expressed her hope that authorities
at all levels will provide more favourable conditions and supports for
HIV carriers to receive treatment and re-integrate into the community,
especially to get jobs to earn their living.
Speaking at the
meeting, Eamonn Murphy, UNAIDS Country Director in Vietnam, said he
believed that Vietnam would be able to cope with HIV and obtain the
Millennium Goals on schedule.
The same day, the Vietnam
General Confederation of Labour held a meeting in response to the
National Month of Action to Prevent and Control HIV/AIDS
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