VietNamNet Bridge – A campaign called Undetectable = Untransmittable was launched on Wednesday in HCM City to persuade people living with HIV to take antiretrovirals as prescribed by doctors to reduce the virus load in their body to undetectable levels so that they do not transmit it to their sexual partners.

A young person gets an HIV test at a medical camp in HCM City.-VNS Photo Gia Loc

The campaign seeks to improve public awareness of early HIV tests and ARV therapy, and reduce discrimination against people with HIV.

Proper treatment will help them live longer and have children, according to health experts.

According to Dr Tieu Thi Thu Van, head of the HCM City HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Centre, though ARV therapy does not cure HIV/AIDS, it helps people with HIV reach and maintain an undetectable viral load, which makes the risk of passing the virus negligible.

So health officials should counsel people with HIV and ensure they take treatment, she said.

The campaign ending on September 30 is being carried out by the HCM City HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Centre in co-operation with the Vietnam-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Viet Nam Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS.

It is receiving technical assistance from the Partnership for Health Advancement in Vietnam, a collaboration between the Harvard Medical School and two of its affiliated teaching hospitals, the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Source: VNS