HA NOI — People from all walks of life are encouraged to know and find their HIV status and show their support through social networks, as part of an effort to eradicate AIDS.

That was the message of Eamon Murphy, the country director of UNAIDS in Viet Nam in response to the global campaign to tackle the HIV epidemic at a meeting in Ha Noi yesterday to mark World AIDS Day on December 1.

The event was co-organised by the Viet Nam Red Cross, UNAIDS in Viet Nam and the Ha Noi AIDS Association.

The campaign has been launched globally with the aim of achieving the targets set by the UN High Level Meeting on the AIDS's plan entitled "Getting to Zero: Zero new HIV infection; Zero discrimination; and Zero AIDS-Related Deaths," last June.

"It is time we renew our activism for AIDS and everyone to show support to the beginning of the end to AIDS", Murphy said.

"It is very important for every Vietnamese, especially the youth, to have accurate knowledge on how to prevent HIV transmission if Viet Nam is to achieve Zero new HIV infections as the Government has prioritised for this year's national action month on AIDS", Murphy said.

A survey among youth in Viet Nam last year showed that nearly one in every three university students did not know about how HIV was transmitted.

Celebrations on the day included candlelit events from 7.40pm to 8.30pm in 17 provinces and cities nationwide.

The National Target Programme for AIDS Prevention for the 2011-15 period also set the goal of zero new HIV infections and a drop of 0.3 per cent in HIV-related deaths by 2015.

Health Ministry statistics stated that Viet Nam had more than 190,000 people living with HIV, of which more than 46,000 had full-blown AIDS, as of June 2011. More than 50,000 people have died from AIDS in the country. — VNS