Vietnam Mountainous Regions among Areas with Highest Rate of HIV

Vietnam’s mountainous regions and borders are among the areas with the highest rate of HIV infection, according to a report by the Ethnic Committee of the National Assembly on drugs and prostitution in 2012. HIV/AIDS is now present in almost every ethnic minority living quarters and spreading faster than in any other areas in the country, the report said. Kien Giang, a southern coastal province that borders with Cambodia, currently has 5,000 living HIV-positive people, most of them ethnic minorities, a rate of 0.29% compared to the national rate of 0.22%. Meanwhile, the Northwestern area, which borders China and has the highest density of ethnic minorities, reports an HIV-positive rate triple national average. The report names unsafe drug administering among reasons for the fast spreading of HIV in these areas. Drug smuggling is common in these provinces due to their locations bordering other countries. Also, public awareness of HIV/AIDS in these regions is low while campaigns and education do not reach ethnic minorities due to the language barrier. A lack of human resources and a lack of finance for healthcare are also to blame. Most HIV-positive people in these regions don’t get help. Vietnam, with a population of 88.78 million, reports 1,200 new HIV-positive cases per month, according to statistics by the Ministry of Health. (Gia Dinh Xa Hoi – Social Family May 29 p7)