More than 42,000 HIV/AIDS patients in Vietnam had received antiretroviral (ARV) drugs covered by the health insurance fund as of the end of October.

A health worker is delivering ARV drugs to HIV/AIDS patients. 

According to the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Department under the Ministry of Health, health insurance coverage for patients under ARV treatment is expected to reach 90-91 percent in 2019.

Medical facilities have purchased ARV drugs for 48,000 patients so far this year using the health insurance fund. The number of patients receiving the drugs is set to climb to 103,000 in 2020.

As of the end of the second quarter of this year, up to 96 percent of HIV/AIDS treatment establishments had signed contracts to provide medical check-ups and treatment covered by health insurance.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Hoang Long, head of the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Department, said cities and provinces need to step up communication efforts to encourage HIV patients to take out health insurance, thus raising the rate of patients receiving ARV drugs.

The department reported that 7,779 new cases of HIV and 1,428 AIDS-related deaths were recorded in the first nine months of this year. The new HIV infections were mostly among people aged from 16-29 years (39.4 percent) and 30-39 years (34.3 percent).