A project on building an HIV-addiction treatment technology transfer centre was officially kicked off at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy in on November 21. The project is a joint effort of the Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy, the Hanoi Medical University and University of California with support from the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) under the US Department of Health and Human Services. The centre will conduct research on treatments for addictive substances such as morphine, heroine, methamphetamine, alcohol and ecstasy. It will cooperate with domestic and foreign specialists to open training courses on addiction treatment as well as to provide treatment to addicts at detoxification centres. According to Ph.D Do Van Dung, Vice Rector of the Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy, the addicts not only suffer from poor health but they are also vulnerable to HIV infection, which affects their families as well as the whole society. He added that using medical intervention for addiction treatment is one of the priorities of the medical sector, especially when HIV pandemic is spreading in the world. The project is scheduled to be completed in three years. Earlier, a Vietnam-HIV Addiction Treatment Transfer Center (VHATTC) was founded at Hanoi Medical University in 2011. (Vietnamplus.vn Nov 21)
