On June 14, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and PATH, a global health organization, held a conference in Hanoi to review a $20.7-million eight-year Healthy Markets project and launch a $15-million five-year Support for Technical Excellence and Private Sector Sustainability in Vietnam (STEPS) project, local media reported.
USAID’s Healthy Markets, which was carried out from 2014 to 2021 within the framework of the United States President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), helped the Vietnamese Ministry of Health introduce and expand new and innovative models such as community-based HIV testing, HIV self-testing, and pre-exposure prophylaxis (or PrEP) treatment.
They are three important services contributing to a 57% reduction in new HIV infections over the past decade. The project also called for $12.6 million from private investors for anti-HIV/AIDS activities.
USAID/Vietnam Deputy Mission Director Bradley Bessire said that the new project will focus on ensuring the sustainability of shared progress and addressing the critical remaining gaps towards Vietnam’s ultimate goal of ending AIDS by 2030.
The STEPS project is expected to increase access to HIV and customer-centered primary health care services through innovative models of care, breakthrough health technologies, ad new public-private partnership approaches. (Tin Tuc [1], TBTCVN [2], Cong Thuong [3], Dang Cong San [4])