Vietnam will conduct annual HIV/AIDS testing among its soldiers and army officers, local newspaper Pioneer reported on Wednesday.

According to the report, all soldiers and officers in the country will undergo tests for HIV/AIDS and drug on a regular basis. HIV/AIDS tests among recruits will receive special attention.

Vietnam has detected 1,417 HIV infections among would-be recruits over the past seven years, and as of late 2003, 130 HIV carriers had been found among military men in service.

By August this year, the whole country had reported 83,400 HIV carriers, of whom over 13,100 cases have developed into AIDS and 7,455 have died so far.Vietnam plans to reduce the HIV/AIDS infection rate among its 82 million population to below 0.3 percent by 2010, and keep the rate unchanged after 2020.

Source: Xinhua