Vietnam: Summary Country Profile for HIV/AIDS Treatment Scale-Up

Viet Nam is facing a rapidly growing HIV epidemic that is beginning to extend beyond initial concentrations in networks of injecting drug users and sex workers. The number of people living with HIV doubled between 2000 and 2005, from approximately 122,000 to 263,000. The adult HIV prevalence is estimated to be 0.5% at the national level in 2005 but exceeded 1% in several provinces. There were an estimated 37,000 new infections in 2005. Due to increased heterosexual transmission, the number of infected females compared with males is increasing each year. In 2005, the ratio was estimated to be 2 to 1, males to females. The number of AIDS-related deaths is growing and is estimated to have increased from 9000 in 2003 to 14,000 in 2005.