Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan called on Party units, official agencies, and the public to improve their awareness of activities to prevent drug use, prostitution, and other social evils at a ceremony held in Bac Ninh Province November 8 to launch the National Action Month for Anti-HIV/AIDS.

Minister of Health Nguyen Quoc Trieu said the event would focus on improving people’s awareness, changing their attitudes, providing care and support for people infected with HIV/AIDS, and HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention.

The Government needs to improve care and treatment for people with HIV/AIDS, ensure they can approach care, support, and treatment services, and eliminate the discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS.

The ceremony was held by the National Committee for AIDS, Drugs and Prostitution Prevention and Control, the Ministry of Health, and the People’s Committee of the northern province. The month begins on November 10.

More than 149,000 people with HIV live in the country, with 32,200 of them also having AIDS, according to the Vietnam Department for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control.