3,000 Cambodians killed by AIDS per year: official
PHNOM PENH – Approximately 3,000 HIV/AIDS patients in Cambodia die per year, Ieng Mouly, chairman of the National AIDS Authority, said Thursday.
“Some 3,000 patients have died naturally each year after they have contracted the disease for years,” he told reporters on the sidelines of an HIV/AIDS seminar, adding that the number of new infections stood about 800 people a year.
He said the country has seen great success in fighting against the disease since 1998.
The prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS infections has declined from 2. 5 percent in 1998 to 0.7 percent in 2013 and was expected to drop to 0.4 percent in 2014.
According to the official, the Global Fund has granted nearly 149 million U.S. dollars to Cambodia for a four-and-a-half years fight against the disease.
He said currently, the Southeast Asian nation has an estimated 70,000 people living with HIV/AIDS including 6,800 children. Of the number, about 85 percent of them have received antiretroviral drugs.
Source: Xinhua
Published: 02 Oct 2014
