The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) will help Vietnam in HIV/AIDS prevention, an official from the program told Xinhua on Tuesday.

The two sides on Monday signed a 1.37-million U.S. dollar project on improving the leading role of the National Assembly of Vietnam in the implementation of the country's National Strategy on HIV/AID Prevention and Control, she said.

The project will be implemented in three provinces, namely Lang Son in the north, Khanh Hoa in the center and An Giang in the south from now to 2008, she said, adding that most of the project's capital comes from the UNDP and the Swedish International Development Agency.

According to statistics released by the Vietnamese Health Ministry, the country detected a total of 12,700 HIV carriers last year. It is estimated that as of early 2006, there had been some 260,000 HIV cases, with 103,000 identified.

Vietnam plans to reduce the HIV/AIDS infection rate among its 83-million population to below 0.3 percent by 2010, and keep it unchanged after 2020.

Source: Xinhua