The meeting aims to promote political agreements and encourage more efforts from the international community to work towards achieving the commitment of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030. Vietnam’s delegation, led by Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam also joined the event.
At the meeting, the Deputy Prime Minister underlined Vietnam’s commitment to join international efforts in preventing HIV and eradicating the AIDS epidemic. He also stressed that the international community needs to commit fully to the campaign and leave no-one behind in the fight against AIDS. Joining the Deputy Prime Minister was a Vietnamese woman living with HIV, who spoke on behalf of HIV-positive patients, urging the international community to continue helping the people living with the deadly virus.
"This is not just the voice of the Vietnamese government, it’s also the voice of the most vulnerable. The people who normally wouldn’t have the chance to speak at an important event such as today’s. Without our assistance, it’s very likely Thanh wouldn’t have had a chance to join us. And not only her, many others, including children and women living with HIV, wouldn’t have the chance to go to school, have a home, or even have a normal life. So can we discontinue support for these HIV/AIDS patients? No we can’t. We don’t have the right to do so", Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam spoke.
Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam also emphasised that preventing HIV/AIDS is one of the top priorities for the Vietnamese government. And thanks to the efforts so far, the epidemic is slowly being brought under control.
On the sidelines of the meeting, the Deputy Prime Minister also met with the representatives from organisations dedicated to fighting HIV/AIDS including UNAIDS and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Vietnam was highly appreciated for its contribution to the fight against HIV/AIDS, as well as its strong promise of commitment to the goal of eradicating the AIDS epidemic by 2030.
