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New Medical Society to Help Vietnam Fight AIDS

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New Medical Society to Help Vietnam Fight AIDS Last Updated on Friday, 20 July 2012 SHARE \| A A A TEXT SIZE HANOI — As preparations start for the international conference AIDS 2012 later this month, in Washington, D.C., specialists in Vietnam are discussing ways to develop their own expertise as donor money becomes increasingly thin. Vietnam’s first case of HIV was recorded in Ho Chi Minh City in the early 1990s. For the next 10 years, the most clinicians could do was provide diagnosis. But with help from international organizations, over time diagnosing the disease was no longer like giving a death sentence. With training and resources from several global agencies, Vietnamese doctors started administering life-saving anti-retroviral drugs in 2005. Clinicians say, after treatment, patients regain their health, can go back to work and lead a nearly normal life. Vietnam HIV/AIDS, proactive approach But as a middle-income country, Vietnam can no longer rely on external support. "All activities for treatment in Vietnam get support from the projects supported by the outside. But after some period, the projects finish. So Vietnamese must stand on their own," said Dr. Nguyen Van Kinh, leading researcher on HIV/AIDS in Vietnam. Kinh says that is part of the reason why health specialists in the country created the Vietnam Clinical HIV/AIDS Society, known as VCHAS. It was set up with support from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control through the Harvard Medical School AIDS Initiative, as part of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Read more from VOA website.
Posted on: Friday, 20 July 2012 Print Story Email Story

New Medical Society to Help Vietnam Fight AIDS

Last Updated on Friday, 20 July 2012

| A A A TEXT SIZE

HANOI — As preparations start for the international conference AIDS 2012 later this month, in Washington, D.C., specialists in Vietnam are discussing ways to develop their own expertise as donor money becomes increasingly thin.

Vietnam’s first case of HIV was recorded in Ho Chi Minh City in the early 1990s. For the next 10 years, the most clinicians could do was provide diagnosis.

But with help from international organizations, over time diagnosing the disease was no longer like giving a death sentence.

With training and resources from several global agencies, Vietnamese doctors started administering life-saving anti-retroviral drugs in 2005. Clinicians say, after treatment, patients regain their health, can go back to work and lead a nearly normal life.

Vietnam HIV/AIDS, proactive approach

But as a middle-income country, Vietnam can no longer rely on external support.

"All activities for treatment in Vietnam get support from the projects supported by the outside. But after some period, the projects finish. So Vietnamese must stand on their own," said Dr. Nguyen Van Kinh, leading researcher on HIV/AIDS in Vietnam.

Kinh says that is part of the reason why health specialists in the country created the Vietnam Clinical HIV/AIDS Society, known as VCHAS. It was set up with support from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control through the Harvard Medical School AIDS Initiative, as part of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.