Vietnam Launches $2M HIV Control Project Funded by USAID

Vietnam has launched a $2-million project receiving financial support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to improve HIV prevention capacity in three provinces until the end of 2017. The project will focus on promoting community connections in controlling HIV/AIDS in the northern coastal city of Haiphong, the northern province of Quang Ninh and the central province of Nghe An. Beneficiaries in the localities will receive better preventive health services and community-based care to ensure better connection with the society amid strong discrimination against people living with HIV. The beneficiaries will include drug users who have not tested for HIV for six months, HIV-caught people who have not registered for outpatient treatment or have failed to follow treatment schedules, and sex workers who use drug and have sexual relations with people living with HIV. Vietnam has about 224,000 HIV/AIDS-caught people, ranking 5th in the Asia-Pacific, behind India, China, Indonesia and Thailand. The USAID and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) have funded hundreds of million dollars to Vietnam’s HIV control programs over the past years. (Vietnamplus Mar 18, tiengchuong.vn Mar 18)