Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Ha Noi, Jan. 23 (VNA) -- The U.S. will provide 600,000 USD for a programme on prevention of HIV/AIDS in the workplace.

The aid was announced at a ceremony held in Ha Noi on Thursday to launch the SMART Work Programme (Strategically Managing AIDS Responses Together) to combat AIDS in Viet Nam.

The aid will be provided by the U.S. Depatment of Labour within a cooperation programme with Viet Nam's Ministry of Labour, Invalids, and Social Affairs (MOLISA).

The SMART Work Programme will bring together the Government, unions and employers at national and provincial levels to work in partnership with a U.S.-based non-govenmental organisation, the Academy for Educational Development, to provide education in the workplace for HIV/AIDS prevention and limit the social and economic impacts of the global epidemic.

The programme calls on employers, unions and governments at the national level and in Thai Binh, Quang Nam, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Dong Nai provinces, Hai Phong city and Ho Chi Minh City to work together in provision of training for workers and management in the prevention of HIV/AIDS, the development of policy at the workplace and national levels and the support for workers and their families infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.

Over a four-year period, MOLISA, the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Viet Nam General Confederation of Labour, and the Ministry of Health will cooperate with the Academy for Educational Development to provide technical assistance, develop communication materials and strategies and conduct national and provincial workshops for the benefit of workers, managers and their families.

Viet Nam has detected nearly 56,500 people who are HIV positive, with more than 8,400 cases having developed into full-blown AIDS.