The event, which is part of the Dance4Life Programme, started at 19.00 in Vietnam and 18 other countries around the globe with the participation of nearly 50,000 young people. Connected via satellite, they wanted to deliver a message: politicians, businesses, artists and the media join hands to combat the disease.

The programme, which was put forward by the United Nations Population Fund, aims to encourage young people to participate in HIV/AIDS prevention and control.

It was first launched in the Netherlands, and is now being implemented in 19 countries, namely Germany, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, Moldova, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Russia, Serbia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda, Britain, the US, Vietnam, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

At present, more than 33 million people around the world are living with HIV/AIDS and half the newly-detected cases are young people under 25.