VIETNAMPLUS

Hanoi (VNA) – The ceremony to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program took place on May 9 in Hanoi.

Speaking at the event, U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Marc E. Knapper pointed out that Vietnam has been the only country in Asia to receive centralized PEPFAR funding since the program’s inception. . Over the next 10 years, the United States remained the largest donor to Vietnam’s HIV/AIDS prevention and control program.

From 2021 to 2022, in Vietnam, PEPFAR provided important techniques to support access to antiretroviral (ARV) drugs for 8,727 HIV carriers and maintain ARVs for at least 89,000 patients on treatment. In addition, PEPFAR also focuses on integrated prevention, helping people access comprehensive prevention services, including HIV testing and counselling, pre-exposure prevention, and strategic communication.

At the event, US Goodwill Ambassador John N. Nkengasong said challenges in HIV/AIDS prevention and control are still many. Therefore, the two sides should cooperate more closely, he stressed.

Ambassador John N. Nkengasong expressed his belief that Vietnam will continue to make a lot of progress in meeting the HIV/AIDS treatment targets of the UN program for cooperation in combating the HIV/AIDS pandemic. AIDS (UNAIDS). PEPFAR wishes to continue to support Vietnam on this journey.

For her part, Vietnamese Health Minister Dao Hong Lan said that HIV/AIDS prevention and control efforts in Vietnam have lasted more than 30 years and achieved many important achievements. Vietnam has gradually brought the HIV epidemic under control on three criteria: reduction in the number of new infections detected, reduction in the number of people transitioning to AIDS and reduction in the number of AIDS-related deaths. Vietnam has kept the infection rate in its population below 0.3%.

According to Minister Dao Hong Lan, along with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, PEPFAR is one of the two largest donors to Vietnam’s HIV/AIDS prevention and control program. Since 2004, Vietnam has become the 15th country in the world to receive support from the US administration through the US President’s Emergency Relief Plan for HIV/AIDS prevention and control. PEPFAR is supporting 11 key locations with the highest number of people living with HIV, representing 45.2% of the country.

Hanoi (VNA) – The Seed Bomb project by Ashley Nguyen, a Vietnamese-born student at Westminster High School in California, has won first prize in the national-level Battelle climate challenge in the United States. United.

Held for the first time in the United States, the Battelle Climate Challenge challenged high school students to study the effects of climate-related hazards in their communities and then develop a concrete strategy to reduce their impacts on the environment. This challenge was launched by Battelle, a non-profit research and development organization that works to strengthen STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education and solutions in the fields of biology, chemistry, advanced materials, engineering and data science.

A durable and simple solution

As sea level rise is expected to erode two-thirds of California’s coastline over the next 100 years, Ashley Nguyen decided to develop a restoration method using seeds, sea mud, clay and silt to strengthen eelgrass and prevent soil erosion.

She used the resources and data of the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve to innovate a sustainable, simple and cost-effective solution to sea level rise. This led her to focus on protecting populations of eelgrass, which act as natural buffers for plants and sediments along the shoreline. By creating balls of eelgrass seeds and organic matter, then burying them along the subtidal zone, Ashley’s method would help restore eelgrass along the coast and protect beaches important to southern residents. from California.

“We are thrilled to recognize Ashley Nguyen for her innovative thinking and dedication to solving one of the world’s toughest challenges,” said Wes Hall, vice president of philanthropy and education at Battelle. “We are proud to support students like Ashley who are committed to leveraging STEM skills to better their local communities,” he said.

Ashley Nguyen and her model for restoring natural habitats threatened by climate change were invited to Columbus, Ohio, where she presented her project at a conference organized by Battelle at the University of Ohio. The Year 12 pupil at Westminster said the experience allowed him to receive feedback from the climate experts in attendance and to exchange ideas with other pupils.

Climate science research

“Advancing to the national level has given me the opportunity to shine a light on overlooked environmental issues in Southern California and has allowed me to proudly represent my Southeast Asian community on the environment. ”, said Ashley Nguyen. “I felt a sweet warmth inside me, hope still remains strong for our future generations and the future, and without a doubt, we can fight climate change,” she said.

With the first prize, Ashley Nguyen won a grant of 5,000 USD for her school. In addition, she will participate in a paid internship at Battelle in the summer of 2024 to continue her research in climate science.

Ashley has participated in numerous STEM competitions, including the Orange County Science and Engineering Fair and the Toshiba ExploraVision competition held in 2022, where her team presented a project for the restoration of honey bee colonies. honey to scientist Bill Nye in Washington DC.

A challenge dedicated to high school students

The Battelle Climate Challenge encourages and rewards high school students for their ideas to mitigate the effects of human-caused climate change. To address this challenge, students conducted research on the past and future impacts of climate events in their respective communities and proposed actions to help build more resilient communities. Ashley Nguyen’s detailed proposal, along with those of the other challenge finalists and semi-finalists, is available at https://www.futureengineers.org/battelleclimatechallenge. -CVN/VNA