Hanoi: Difference between revisions

There are no known travel restrictions or requirements attached to any STI, including HIV, in Vietnam. For foreigners seeking work, especially teaching, there are some reports of schools asking for health checks. However, health checks are not required by authorities in order to receive a work permit.  

In Vietnam, HIV testing began in 1988.<ref>[https://ethnomed.org/clinical/communicable-diseases/hiv-std-infection HIV/STD Infection in Vietnamese and Vietnamese Americans]</ref> The first reported positive result came in 1990. Throughout the 1990s, HIV rates began to raise. Although infection rates in Vietnam were low overall, the female sex worker (FSW) and injection drug user (IDU) communities began to experience substantially increased infection rates. In 2002, a study of 400 female sex workers (FSW) in Hanoi found that 12% were HIV+ and 17% were infected syphilis, 3.8% with chlamydia and 6.3% with gonorrhea. The study concluded: "Vietnam is in a critical period. HIV is spreading rapidly among the risk groups, but the country can prevent a widespread epidemic if it acts quickly. The country must take the opportunity to act wisely and to make sound decisions. Strategies to reduce HIV in FSWs should include reduction of stigmatization, reduction of sharing drug paraphernalia, promotion of nonstigmatizing voluntary counseling and testing, and aggressive marketing and promotion of condoms. To achieve these goals, the government should adopt a multisectoral response that includes other government agencies, nongovernment organizations, and the vulnerable populations."<ref>[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2908502/ HIV Infection and Risk Characteristics Among Female Sex Workers in Hanoi, Vietnam]</ref>