The US$473,296 project, to which the ADB contributes US$443,296 while the remainder comes from the provincial budget, aims to help the third worst-hit northern province stop the spread of the fatal epidemic in the period beyond 2010.

Education campaigns will be launched among people aged between 14 and 25 years old to help change their behaviour, thus reducing their exposure to the disease, especially among high-risk groups.

The target population will be educated to trend towards voluntary HIV/AIDS tests and the use of condoms as well, especially among high-risk groups.

The project also aims to increase public awareness of discrimination against HIV/AIDS carriers and strengthen community support for the patients.

The initial stage of the project, starting from this year, will involve Hai Duong city and Kinh Mon district, the province’s hotbeds. It focuses on school students and vulnerable and high-risk groups.

Hai Duong is one of the three provinces with record HIV/AIDS positive rates in the north. The province reported 6,641 HIV carriers, of them 1,068 have developed full-blown AIDS and 825 have died. The pandemic has been founded in all 12 districts and townships of the province as well as spread to 80.2 percent of its villages and wards.

HIV carriers tend to be ever younger with 55.6 percent of the patients aged between 20 and 29 years old and men making up 89.4 percent of the total.