Hanoi (VNA) - The US Agency for International Development (USAID) is committed to re𓆉alising a greater role for the private sector's potential through its new plan for investment and the provision of services against HIV/AIDS in the 2021-2025 period.

The information was revealed by Randolph Augustin, Chief of the Health Population and Nutrition Office of USAID Vietnam, at a conference on the implementation of a plan to strengthen the involvement of the private sector in the field of HIV/AIDS fight for the first time in Vietnam held by the Anti-HIV/AIDS Department under the Ministry of Public Health and USAID through the Path Steps project on October 20. The official also affirmed that USAID aims to use expertise, resources and investment from the private sector to deal with development challenges and create a larger-scale impact. He added the organisation hopes to provide technical support to key localities to implement the plan and ensure the mobilisation of more investment and support from the private sector. Associate Professor Phan Thi Thu Huong, Director of the Anti-HIV/AIDS Department, noted the private sector's important role in the fight against HIV/AIDS over the past many years. The Prime Minister has approved a national strategy for ending AIDS by 2030, and the National Assembly has also passed the amended law on the HIV/AIDS fight, which includes the private sector's involvement in contributions and investment, she highlighted. According to the official, the external financial support for HIV prevention and treatment in Vietnam has considerably decreased from the early years of the 2020s, and the trend is forecast to continue in the time to come. With Vietnam's developing economy and the increasing attention from the private sector, private partners can play a greater role in the HIV market and strengthen the sustainability of their services in HIV prevention and treatment, as well as primary health care. Huong's department has announced a new plan to strengthen the involvement of the private sector in making investments and providing services to the fight in the 2021-2025 period and discussed a cooperation mechanism to implement the plan and strongly push up the public-private partnership in the four years to come. The plan serves as the first national comprehensive guidance on the involvement of the private sector in the HIV programme to support the implementation of the strategy for ending AIDS by 2030 by the Vietnamese government. The plan also provides indices and a roadmap for accelerating the involvement and investment by the private sector. The 5-year USAID/Path Steps aims to accelerate primary health care and will cooperate with the Health Ministry in implementing the plan on the involvement by the private sector at both national and local levels. It builds a strategic partnership with all the supply chain links to increase the ability to select, distribute and popularise products at optimal prices. Over the past decade, the private sector, including domestic social firms, medical and pharmaceutical transnationals, and multimedia communications firms, has played an important role in intensifying the ability to access HIV prevention and treatment products and services with affordable prices for the community of the top-risk groups. Private HIV prevention and treatment services have seen an increase in both supply and demand. More than 20 private clinics provide such services integrated with primary health care in Vietnam's urban areas. About 50% of preventive service users register at private clinics./.