PHNOM PENH – About four people in Cambodia become infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) every day, the National AIDS Authority said in a statement on Wednesday.
HIV is the virus that causes AIDS or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
"Approximately 1,400 people become newly infected with HIV per year or about four people per day," the statement read, urging people, particularly teenagers, to avoid sexual misconduct on Valentine's Day.
“Forty-two percent of the newly infected people are youth aged between 15 and 24 years old," it added.
According to the statement, currently, there are some 76,000 people in the Southeast Asian country living with HIV.
Ieng Mouly, senior minister and chairman of the National AIDS Authority, said recently Cambodia was committed to ending AIDS as a public health threat and to meeting the 95-95-95 targets by 2025.
The targets mean that 95 percent of the people who are living with HIV, knowing their HIV status, 95 percent of the people who know that they are living with HIV being on lifesaving antiretroviral treatment, and 95 percent of people who are on treatment being virally suppressed.
"Cambodia had already achieved a response rate of 86-99-98 by the end of 2022," Mouly said.
In Cambodia, the first HIV infections were detected and diagnosed in 1991 and the first AIDS case was found in 1993. (Xinhua)
