The percentage of HIV infection among Vietnamese pregnant women rose to 0.37 percent in 2005 from 0.02 percent in 1994, local newspaper Labor reported Monday.

Annually, 5,000-7,000 local women having HIV give births, some 8,500 children aged 0-15 contract the virus, and 22,000 children become orphans because their parents die of AIDS in recent years, the paper quoted sources from the country's Health Ministry.

Under a 2006-2010 national action program on preventing HIV/ AIDS transmission from mothers to babies, Vietnam plans to keep the percentage of pregnant women having HIV below 0.5 percent by 2010.

Vietnam detected a total of 2,177 HIV carriers, including 307 fatalities in the first three months of this year, posting respective year-on-year decreases of nearly 28 percent and over 17 percent, according to the ministry.

As of early this year, the country reported nearly 106,300 HIV cases, including roughly 17,830 AIDS patients, and 10,700 fatalities.

Source: Xinhua