Vietnam's General Department of Population and Family Planning under the Ministry of Health on Tuesday launched an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign that promotes safer-sex practices among young people in the country, the VNS/Viet Nam News reports. The campaign will focus on youth ages 15 to 24 in 15 provinces with large ethnic minority populations. It falls under the framework of a $20 million campaign funded by the Asian Development Bank and implemented by the population and family planning department between 2007 and 2011.

The HIV/AIDS youth campaign is the largest of its kind launched in Vietnam, according to VNS/Viet Nam News. It aims to reduce HIV/AIDS prevalence to less than 0.3% by 2010, according to a population and family planning department official. In addition, the project will focus on implementing Vietnam's national HIV/AIDS strategy, which includes prevention and outreach programs at the provincial and district levels (VNS/Viet Nam News, 8/21).