Vietnam Government Delegation to Head to U.S. for HIV/Drugs Study Tour

A Vietnamese government delegation will travel to the United States Sept. 3-14 to study HIV prevention among drug addicts, according to the US embassy. The 12-person delegation will be led by Deputy Health Minister Pham Manh Hung and includes officials from the public security, justice and labor ministries. CDC is sponsoring the trip, which will take delegates to New York City and Atlanta, where CDC is headquartered. The UN, Western governments and aid organizations are trying to persuade Vietnam to abandon its "social evils" approach to intravenous drug users. Vietnam takes a hardline stance against "social evils" such as drug abuse and prostitution, a position that hinders its efforts to contain the spread of HIV/AIDS. Between 70,000 and 300,000 Vietnamese have HIV. Rather than send narcotics abusers to detention or detoxification camps, experts champion harm-reduction policies involving information campaigns and needle exchanges, an approach the government has begun tentatively to explore.

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