U.S. to Fund $95M for Vietnam AIDS Prevention This Year

The U.S. will assist $95 million to Vietnam to combat effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in 2010, American Ambassador to Vietnam Michael Michalak said. The total aid the American government has given to Vietnam’s HIV prevention projects since 2004 exceeds $400 million, the Thoi bao Kinh te newspaper cited the ambassador as saying June 3. Cooperation in the health sector is among the two nations’ priorities Michael said, emphasizing that 75% of his country’s official development assistance sources to Vietnam has been spent on health-related projects so far. Vietnam has so far reported 156,802 people infected with HIV virus since the first case detected in 1990. The number of HIV-infected children has climbed to 5, 225, attributed to the shortage and inefficiency of provision programs against mother-to-child transmission.