Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung approved a plan to earmark 1.59 trillion Vietnamese dong (US$89.24 million) to increase capacity of local levels in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the 2010-2015 period, local newspaper the New Hanoi reported Thursday.

The plan aims to upgrade all HIV/AIDS prevention centers at localities in the next five years, said the newspaper. At least 65percent of the staff working at these centers should hold graduate or post-graduate degrees, according to the plan.

Fund for this project will come from state and local budgets, official development assistance (ODA) and other international aid sources, said the newspaper.

Currently, Vietnam has nearly 150,000 people infected with HIV. In the first half of this year, the country reported over 6,100 new HIV infection cases and 742 AIDS-related deaths, according to the newspaper.

(Xinhua News Agency July 30, 2009)