With grants and loans worth US$20 million, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is supporting Laos and Vietnam in preventing the spread of HIV infections in their 23 border provinces that have seen rising cases of HIV/AIDS. Risks are growing in these provinces due to increased population movement and cross-border trading activities, the bank said. “As people and products move more freely across borders, so do communicable diseases, such as HIV,” said Emiko Masaki, Social Sector Economist at ADB’s Southeast Asia Department. This project will help improve the HIV response systems of the two countries to protect their most vulnerable populations with information, skills, supplies and access to quality healthcare services, Masaki said. According to the official, border regions are home to some of the poorest and most isolated populations, with limited knowledge of HIV risks and limited access to health services. Meanwhile, new cross border roads, and the increasing numbers of hotels, casinos and other businesses in border areas, have increased the threat of HIV infection. Although the adult HIV infection rates in Vietnam and Laos are estimated at just 0.4 percent and 0.2 percent of the respective populations, the disease has spread to all districts in Vietnam and is rising in border areas. The project is scheduled to be carried out from now until the end of 2017, at a cost of $21.9 million. Laos and Vietnam will contribute more than $0.5 million and $1.3 million, respectively, to this project.