Students of University of Social Sciences and Humanities promote HIV/AIDS prevention

Responding to World HIV/AIDS Day (December 1), the Reproductive Health Propaganda Team of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities organized extensive communication about HIV/AIDS to a large number of students.

Propaganda activities include: introducing leaflets, books, and instructional materials on HIV/AIDS to students, hanging posters and propaganda paintings with content on HIV/AIDS prevention, screening propaganda films about healthy lifestyles among young people... This propaganda campaign lasts from December 1 to mid-December 2008.

The above activities aim to provide information about the alarming situation of HIV/AIDS infection in Vietnam today. According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, since the first HIV-infected person was discovered in Ho Chi Minh City in December 1990, by December 31, 2006, there were 116,565 people infected with HIV, 20,195 AIDS patients and 11,802 deaths from AIDS. The majority of people infected with HIV are due to sharing unsterilized needles. According to a report from the Vietnam HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Department - Ministry of Health, the number of drug users infected with HIV accounts for 59% of the total number of HIV/AIDS cases in the country.

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According to VOV News, in the first 9 months of 2008, 1,860 new HIV cases were detected in Hanoi, of which 1,513 were in the old Hanoi and 347 were in the old Ha Tay. Of these, 417 were AIDS patients and 155 died from the disease of the century. Currently, 417/576 communes and wards in Hanoi have detected HIV-infected people. Statistics show that HIV/AIDS cases are still mainly concentrated in high-risk groups such as drug addicts (70.54%), tuberculosis patients (9.16%), and sexual relations (7.33%). Notably, the rate of HIV-infected women tends to increase (14.07%) and most of the infected people are young, of which the number of HIV/AIDS infections in the age group of 20-39 accounts for 89.57% of the total number of infected people recorded.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic has not only caused huge economic and social consequences but also left behind many misfortunes for people infected with HIV/AIDS and their families. Particularly worrying is the fact that the number of people infected with HIV/AIDS among young people - the age of working and contributing the most to their families and society - is increasing. In the face of this situation, HIV/AIDS prevention is the responsibility and obligation of the whole society, of each family and of people infected with HIV/AIDS. To do this, each person in the community must have a deep understanding of the nature of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, know how to prevent the disease for themselves and the community, and know how to take care of themselves and their loved ones when infected with HIV/AIDS.

The information and propaganda content also focuses on providing guidance on: general information about HIV/AIDS; how to prevent HIV/AIDS infection; the community's attitude towards HIV/AIDS patients; love and reproductive health counseling for teenagers...