As many as 1,000 young people and workers in the central highland province of Dak Lak attended a meeting on Nov. 29 to support the National HIV/AIDS Action Month and World AIDS Day (Dec. 1). They pledged to actively join in the fight against HIV/AIDS to control the spread of the epidemic. At present, Dak Lak province has nearly 1,400 HIV cases and 450 AIDS patients, of whom 285 have died. The same day, 2,500 young people and public employees paraded in the streets of Bac Lieu town in the Mekong Delta to disseminate information on the danger of HIV/AIDS, injection needles and condoms in residential areas, ports and bus stations. The Bac Lieu provincial People’s Committee has established many groups to give free treatment and present gifts to HIV/AIDS patients and poor children suffering from the same deadly disease in Bac Lieu, Hoa Binh and Vinh Loi towns. A competition about HIV/AIDS was launched by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, drawing 74 teams from secondary and high schools. They will compete in two parts, theory and practice and the top 10 teams will be awarded. The competition aims to equip students with more knowledge about HIV/AIDS to help them protect themselves against HIV-infection.
