Cambodia expects to nail HIV/AIDS infection rate down to 0.6% in 2010

PHNOM PENH, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The infection rate of HIV/AIDS among the Cambodians is expected to decrease to 0.6 percent in 2010, over 0.7 percent in 2008 and 0.9 percent in 2006, the Chinese-language newspaper the Jian Hua Daily said on Friday.

In order to ensure the goal to be realized, the government has managed to allocate 45 million to 50 million U.S. dollars per year to help counter the disease, the newspaper quoted government figures as saying.

Due to the government and the non-governmental organizations' efforts, over 90 percent of sex workers, gays or lesbians and drug addicts have known about HIV/AIDS, and at least 90 percent of sex workers use condoms when they do their business, said the figures.

Meanwhile, 93 percent of HIV/AIDS patients in Cambodia have received medical aid, 70 percent of HIV/AIDS orphans of the kingdom have been sponsored by the government, and the education campaign has trickled into rural and border areas, according to the figures.

In 1998, the infection rate of HIV/AIDS in Cambodia was 2.8 percent and at least 100,000 people have died of the disease so far, according to official statistics.

Editor: An