Deputy PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc has asked police, military, border guard, and security aviation forces to launch joint operations to prevent drug trafficking into Vietnam. Deputy PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc chairs an online conference on HIV/AIDS, drug trafficking and prostitution prevention and control The designated agencies need to draw up specific programmes of action to strictly deal with this dangerous type of crime, Phuc said at an online conference in Hanoi on July 8 to review the fight against HIV/AIDS, drug trafficking and prostitution in the first six months of 2013. Drugs are mostly carried into Vietnam through border gates in the north-western and south-western regions, and at airports. Statistics show that relevant agencies along the Vietnam-Laos and Vietnam-China borders have detected 2,673 cases and arrested more than 3,500 people bringing a total of 160kg of heroin into Vietnam in the past six months. There are increased numbers of criminal cases and traffickers compared to the six-month period last year, according to the National Committee on HIV/AIDS, Drug and Prostitution Prevention and Control. More crackdown campaigns are needed to reduce supply sources, and more communications campaigns should be launched to reduce demands, said the Deputy PM. The Committee also reported that the number of HIV infections and deaths fell considerably compared to the same period last year, but HIV transmission through sexual contact was at an alarming rate, mostly in the 30-39 year age group. The disease is more prevalent in mountainous areas in Lai Chau, Lao Cai, Son La, Thanh Hoa, and Nghe An provinces. Deputy PM Phuc asked the Ministry of Health to replicate the Methadone treatment model and introduce guidelines for synthetic drug users. He requested relevant ministries, agencies and localities to work on a new drug detoxification project for submission to the government, develop community-based drug detoxification models, and support drug reformers. VOV