Top U.S. AIDS official discusses new Vietnam funding

Vietnam is expected to receive about $10 million in HIV/AIDS funds under a $15 billion U.S. program, with prevention and treatment as the main strategies, the head of the U.S. AIDS project said Friday.

The communist nation was last month designated as one of 15 countries eligible to share in the U.S. plan to combat AIDS, surprising some experts who had expected harder-hit India and China to be picked. The other 14 are in Africa and the Caribbean.

"This year we're targeting something in the range of $10 million and ... exactly how the money will be used is to be determined," U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Randall Tobias said.

Tobias, on his way to an AIDS summit in Bangkok, discussed funding priorities with Vietnamese officials.

Hanoi says it has around 81,000 reported HIV/AIDS cases, a relatively modest proportion of its 81 million people, though experts say the figure could be four times as much. Neighboring China has 1-1.5 million cases out of 1.3 billion population.

Tobias, the retired chairman and chief executive officer of drug firm Eli Lilly, said the program's focus was "to prevent additional HIV/AIDS infections" and treatment of those who had caught the disease.

He reiterated the reasons offered by Washington on its selection of a former war foe for funds, saying Vietnam's significant population and the threat of the disease spreading to the public made it a "very logical" choice.

The Southeast Asian country has already been receiving HIV/AIDS funding from America, and coupled with the fresh aid it would have $18 million at the end of September 2004.