A doctor giving consultations to an HIV patient in Hanoi (Photo: VNA)

The communications work will focus on helping healthcare staff understand the campaign so to enable them to support HIV carriers in testing and treatment.

According to Paula Morgan, Deputy Director for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as studies have shown that persons living with HIV on successful treatment with undetectable levels of virus cannot transmit HIV to their sex partners, stigma and discrimination towards people living with HIV should be abolished.

She said people at high risk of HIV must get tested, and receive antiretroviral (ARV) therapy soon to prevent HIV transmission.

Doctor Do Huu Thuy from the HIV/AIDS Prevention Department under the Ministry of Health said that as of December 31, an estimated 250,000 Vietnamese were living with HIV, most of whom were sexually transmitted and at the age of between 15 and 49.

Notably, HIV-positive cases among drug addicts are increasing, especially in the homosexual groups, he added.

In Vietnam, only 80 percent of HIV people know their health status while some 70 percent of people diagnosed with HIV receive ARV treatment.

VNF ( VNA )