More than 280,000 people have received free HIV tests and 15,000 patients were newly enrolled for anti-retroviral treatment over the last five years (Photo: daidoanket.vn) Hanoi (VNA)– More than 280,000 people have received free HIV tests and 15,000 patientswere newly enrolled for anti-retroviral treatment over the last five years.
A conference held onDecember 14 in Hanoi to wrap up a national project on sustainable management ofHIV/AIDS response also heard that nearly 19,000 people injecting drugs havebeen given methadone treatment this year.
This accounted for 20 percent of total methadone treatment patients in thecountry.
The 45 million USD, five-year (2011-2016) project on Sustainable Management ofHIV/AIDS Response and Transition to Technical Assistance (SMART TA) was fundedby the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief.
In its final year alone, the project provided treatment to more than 23,000people living with HIV, the conference heard.
The project was implemented by the US Agency for International Development(USAID) in 11 provinces.
USAID Vietnam Mission Director Michael Greene said that Vietnam has achievedgreat results in HIV response in recent years.
The response increasingly relies on local resources such as health insurance;and national and provincial funding have become key support sources, he noted.
The project has also helped integrate HIV services into the curative healthsystem where facilities can be reimbursed through social health insurance, hesaid.
HIV patients in the northernprovince of Dien Bien and the central province of Nghe An were the first toreceive social health insurance reimbursement for HIV services.
Nguyen To Nhu, deputy chief of the project, said that one of the achievementsof the project was its work in mountainous areas, where many people cannotaccess health services because of the long distance between their houses andlocal health clinics.
The project providedmobile laboratories to provide HIV tests for people in mountainous areas, andresults were provided in 24 hours instead of the usual week.
She cited Que Phong and Quy Chau districts in Nghe An as examples. Afterestablishing mobile and satellite laboratories in these localities, as many as500 at-risk people in Que Phong district and more 300 in Quy Chau district havebeen tested.
Phan Thi Thu Huong,deputy director of Vietnam Authority of HIV/AIDS Control, said that after fiveyears of implementing the project, the number of newly-infected people in HCMCity has reportedly not decreased.
In the 2011-2015 period, HIV infections through sexual transmission accountedfor 57.5 percent and blood transmission was 41.3 percent.
She said it is necessary to strengthen preventive work, and ensure that atleast 90 percent of patients knew their status, 90 percent of those who knewtheir status were on treatment and 90 percent of those on treatment werevirally suppressed. These targets would help country could stamp out the HIVepidemic by 2030, she said.
As international donors have begun phasing out assistance, health insurance forpeople living with HIV/AIDS has become crucial for prevention, testing andproviding anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment, health officials said.
The AIDS response overall is funded mainly by international donors who provide70 to 80 per cent of all funds.
Some aspects of the response, particularly ARV treatment, are fully funded bydonors.
Coverage of HIV treatment by the national health insurance scheme is crucial toincreasing domestic funding of the AIDS response, as external funding will cometo an end next year, they added.
Only 40 percent of people living with HIV have health insurance, according to areport released by the Ministry of Health.
Most people living withHIV are poor, many of whom are without a permanent residence or a stable jobwith health insurance, said Nguyen Huu Hung, deputy director of the HCMCity’s Department of Health.
As ARV treatment has been made available free of charge due to internationaldonor support, people living with HIV have found it unnecessary to purchasehealth insurance.
HIV-related stigma and discrimination remain significant barriers to providinghealth insurance coverage to infected people.
Many people living with HIV are afraid of their condition being made knownto the public and refuse to join a health insurance scheme, Hung said.
Nearly 50 percent of people living with HIV in HCM City are covered by healthinsurance, but very few use the insurance cards for health exams because ofanxiety about discrimination.
The number of people living with HIV in the city is estimated at 41,000, withnearly 28,000 people under ARV treatment, he said.
It is estimated that ARV treatment costs 12,000-24,000 VND for ARV treatmentper person per day.
The financial burden of treatment costs could hinder access to ARV treatmentfor poor, uninsured people living with HIV, he added.
According to the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Department, ARV treatmentcosts around 420 billion VND (18.58 million USD) per year.
The Prime Minister has ordered local authorities to create the most favourableconditions for all people with HIV/AIDS to join the national health insurancescheme.
Local health sectors have been asked to sign contracts with health insuranceagencies to ensure benefits for insured people with HIV/AIDS.
Insured people living with HIV/AIDS will enjoy full payment for ARV treatmentfrom health insurance agencies and the local State budget.
The number of people living with HIV is estimated at 230,000 in Vietnam. Atotal of 8,059 people were diagnosed with HIV infection nationwide in the first10 months of the year.-VNA
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