Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia, Inc. - Friday October 10 8:01 AM EDT
"HIV/AIDS prevention targeted for urban youth is a pressing mission to be achieved since intravenous drug abuse is spreading among young people in urban areas and provincial towns at an alarming rate," the U.N. International Drug Control Program (UNDCP) said in a statement.
It said the sharing of contaminated syringes and needles among injecting drug users was responsible for more than 60 percent of the confirmed HIV cases in Vietnam.
Government estimates unveiled by the United Nations in July showed that the number of people infected with HIV, the virus which leads to AIDS, was about 12 times higher than the number published in the official media.
It said that according to unofficial Ministry of Health estimates, 84,195 are infected with the virus and over 263,000 would be HIV/AIDS victims by 2000 -- equivalent to more than 0.3 percent of the projected population at the turn of the century.
In the first few years of its official AIDS epidemic, from 1990 to 1993, the government focused on jailing drug abusers and people involved in the sex trade.
National AIDS Committee officials now believe this may have been counterproductive because it drove intravenous drug users underground, where HIV could spread silently through needle-sharing, instead of encouraging behavioural change.
The UNDCP said the $635,086 project, which is partly funded by Denmark and Britain, would establish working models for community-based drug abuse and HIV prevention programs and carry out peer education activities in nine cities.
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