Vietnam has annually reported roughly 39,000 HIV infection cases, according to a recent report by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

Southern Ho Chi Minh City, with the number of HIV carriers accounting for 1.2 percent of its population, has become the hardest-hit locality in the country, the report said.

It is followed by northern Hai Phong city and Hanoi capital with 1.1 percent and 0.7 percent of their population having HIV respectively.

Now, there are nearly 300,000 Vietnamese people living with HIV/ AIDS, mostly among high-risk groups, including drug addicts, prostitutes and gays, said the report.

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