30 participants who took part in the training course were the lecturers, officers of the police training institutions, the Police Department of Drugs Crime Investigation and some local police forces. The training course aimed to introduce the document “The role of law enforcement force in HIV prevention for drug users”; equip, consolidate the knowledge and experience in HIV prevention, care and treatment for drug users in order to serve the teaching and practical professional work. At the same time, the training courses also provided the knowledge and skills of job safety for the officers who directly fight against the HIV offenders.

Attending and presiding over the Opening Ceremony were Major General, Dr. Dang Xuan Khang, Vice President of the PPA and Mr. Christopher Batt - UNODC Regional Adviser on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, Manager of UNODC Office in Vietnam. Representatives of functional units of the PPA and UNODC Office in Vietnam also were present at the Ceremony.

Speaking at the Ceremony, Major General, Dr. Dang Xuan Khang, Vice President of the PPA said recently, the police force of Drugs Crime Investigation as well as the Border Guard, the Coast Guard of Vietnam detected a series of drug trafficking and trade with huge quantities, up to hundreds of kilograms. This fact indicated that the demand for drugs in Vietnam was still very large. According to the experts, the most popular type of drug in Vietnam was heroin, the most commonly using ways still were inhaling and mainlining heroin. Especially, the mainlining heroin in unsanitary conditions and sharing the needles were the source of HIV infection. The increasing number of people infected with HIV would the common burden for the community, affecting the overall development of the country.

The representatives took memorial photograph 

The Vice President of the PPA also stressed, in recent years, the United Nations and the developed countries in the world had many cooperation activities, enhanced the support to Vietnam in training, improving the professional qualifications as well as the investigative skills of the public security force. The training course “Role of law enforcement force in HIV prevention, care and treatment for drug users”, one of the useful cooperation activities between the PPA and UNODC Office in Vietnam, contributed to strengthening the capacity of the lecturers of the police training institutions and the officers who were directly involved in the fight against drug-related crimes. The Vice President of the Academy expressed the high appreciation and respectful gratitude to UNODC Office in Vietnam for the meaningful and effective collaboration.

Based on the guidance of the Vice President of the PPA, the experts and participants focused on exchanging, discussing and sharing of the fundamental knowledge about HIV/AIDS, addictive mechanism and addiction treatment, standby treatment programs for HIV/AIDS, role of law enforcement force in drug treatment and HIV prevention for drug users, occupational safety for the law enforcement force, etc.

With the actively and effectively cooperation of the experts and the enthusiastic participation of the representatives, the training course was successful, continued to affirm and consolidate the effective cooperation between the PPA and the UNODC Office in Vietnam.

International Cooperation Division