The information was given at a press briefing on HIV/AIDS prevention and control before the rally in response to World HIV/AIDS Day, organized by the Department of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control on the afternoon of November 18.
Associate Professor, Dr. Phan Thi Thu Huong, Director of the Department of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control - Ministry of Health said: In the first 9 months of 2024, the country recorded 11,421 new HIV positive cases and 1,263 deaths.
Notably, among the newly discovered HIV infections since the beginning of the year, 82.9% are men, mainly aged 15-29 (40%) and 30-39 (27.3%), with the highest proportion being men who have sex with men (42.2%).
According to Ms. Huong, the HIV/AIDS epidemic is still complicated in Vietnam. In recent years, the form of HIV infection has changed significantly from blood transmission among drug addicts to sexual transmission.
Men who have sex with men (MSM) continue to account for a high proportion of new cases each year (42.2%). Estimates and forecasts also show that MSM are the main risk group for the HIV epidemic in Vietnam.
In terms of location, newly discovered HIV cases are mainly in the Southern region and large cities - where there are many industrial parks, universities, and economic, cultural, and educational centers, so people flock here to work and study, making it easy for risky behaviors to spread HIV.
In addition to the sharp increase in HIV infections in southern provinces and cities, in recent years, epidemic warning figures show that the northern mountainous areas and the Central Highlands are at potential risk of an outbreak.
The pattern of HIV infection has changed significantly since 2010. Among newly detected HIV-infected people, the proportion of people infected with HIV through blood has decreased from 47.5% in 2010 to 6.5% in September 2024; the proportion of people infected with HIV through sex has become the main route of transmission, increasing from 47.5% in 2010 to 70.8% in September 2024.
HIV prevalence among male drug users (about 12%) and female sex workers (less than 5%) has tended to be stable over the years. However, HIV prevalence among MSM has tended to increase rapidly in recent times (HIV prevalence among MSM in HIV sentinel surveillance increased from 7.4% in 2016 to 12.5% in 2022).
"The results of recent studies also show that transgender women are also one of the groups warned of the risk of HIV infection, with the HIV infection rate in Hanoi being 5.8% in 2022, in Ho Chi Minh City this rate was 6.8% in 2004, increasing to 18% in 2016 and 16.5% in 2020," said the Director of the Department of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control.
