VietNamNet Bridge – Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan on Friday awarded the Friendship Order to French professor Francoise Barre Sinoussi for her contribution to the HIV/AIDS fight in Viet Nam.

Sinoussi, together with her former boss Luc Montagnier, received a Nobel Prize in 2008 for their discovery of HIV in 1983.

She came to Viet Nam when HIV was first discovered in the world and founded a laboratory that enabled doctors to recognise HIV in patients. In her laboratory, the first HIV-infected patient in Viet Nam was discovered in December 1990.

Sinoussi and the Pasteur Paris Institute where she works have been helping Viet Nam fight HIV/AIDS over the last 20 years – both with treatment, training doctors and funding.

At the ceremony, Nhan praised Sinoussi's work and said he hoped she would continue to help Viet Nam in this field. He also said Viet Nam was committed to joining the global millennium goal that targets ending HIV/AIDS transmission by 2015.

Sinoussi said the award demonstrated the effectiveness of collaboration between Viet Nam and France in HIV/AIDS prevention. She added that a lot of work needed to be done to ensure HIV patients received proper treatment.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News