Hanoi (VNA) - 🌞The US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) programme in Vietnam has maintained an impressive 99% viral suppression rate in its 11 focus provinces in the Northern Economic Zone and the Ho Chi Minh City Metropolitan Region.

With support from PEPFAR, Vietnam has made significant progress since 2014 in taking ownership and leading its HIV response efforts. Today, more than 70% of the estimated 240,000 people living with HIV (PLWH) in the country receive antiretroviral (ARV) drugs through health insurance funded by domestic resources, said US Ambassador Marc E. Knapper at the 20th anniversary of PEPFAR in Hanoi on May 9.

Impressive viral suppression rate

A year after the US government launched the PEPFAR in 2003, Vietnam became the first and only country in Asia to receive the focused PEPFAR funding, the ambassador said, noting that 10 years later, the US was the largest donor to Vietnam’s national HIV response, contributing 46% to the overall HIV budget, with additional funding from the Global Fund and other partners. “Together, PEPFAR and Global Fund resources directly supported 90% of Vietnam’s procurement of life-saving antiretroviral (ARV) drugs to treat clients, giving people living with HIV a renewed chance to not only survive but to thrive,” Knapper said. From 2021 to 2022, PEPFAR provided critical technical assistance to support access to ARV treatment for 8,727 new patients, and helped maintain ARV medication for at least 89,000 people currently undergoing treatment. Beyond treating people with HIV/AIDS, Vietnam has focused on combination prevention, which allows clients to access comprehensive prevention services, including HIV counseling and testing, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) services, and strategic communication designed to educate populations most at-risk, such as young men who have sex with men, and transgender women, he said. According to the diplomat, the Vietnam programme has also adapted strategies to bring services closer to the clients. Before 2014, all HIV services in Vietnam were offered in the public sector and by healthcare workers. Today, there are more than 40 private clinics serving PLWH, the majority of them led by key populations in the communities. PEPFAR Global Ambassador Dr John N.Nkengasong said Vietnam was truly a global example of sustainability and domestic resource mobilisation through the health insurance programme in the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS. Vietnam had been very responsive in adapting to innovations and scientific advances to comprehensively implement measures, he stressed. Over the last 10 years, the Government of Vietnam has taken seriously the responsibility for funding and administrating many components of its HIV response, including paying for all HIV treatment services and drugs in a way that addresses the need of people living with HIV. “We appreciate the Government’s policy and financial leadership to accomplish this commendable goal,” Ambassador Nkengasong said. Additionally, Vietnam has been very quick in adapting innovations and scientific advances to implement a comprehensive response. The recent and rapid expansion of PrEP services is a major achievement, he continued. PrEP officially started in Vietnam in 2020. After three years, the number of PrEP users has reached 67,000, with 51,000 PrEP users as of 2022. Vietnam ranks second in the Asia-Pacific region in the number of PrEP users, behind Australia with about 57,000 net users as of 2022.

Calling for further PEPFAR priority solutions

In her remarks, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan said Vietnam’s HIV/AIDS prevention and control work had gained many important achievements over more than 30 years. The country had gradually controlled the HIV/AIDS epidemic on all three criteria, namely reducing the number of newly detected HIV infections, reducing the number of people progressing to AIDS stage, and reducing the number of AIDS-related deaths. She affirmed that PEPFAR has been among the largest sponsor of HIV/AIDS prevention and control programmes in Vietnam in recent years, helping the country gradually control HIV/AIDS and maintain the community infection rate below 0.3%. PEPFAR is currently supporting 11 key cities and provinces with 45.2% of the country's living HIV-infected population. Lan expressed her desire for PEPFAR to continue supporting the Ministry of Health with some priority solutions, particularly in supporting the supply of HIV testing and medication in emergency situations, given the current difficulties the healthcare sector is facing in terms of procurement and supply of medicines and medical supplies. Other priorities would include expanding counselling and testing models, expanding the localities benefiting from the public health response strategy to have sufficient evidence for appropriate interventions. Furthermore, in the context of the increasing trend of HIV infections in the homosexual and transgender groups, Lan suggested that PEPFAR support a comprehensive strategy to intervene in reducing the risk of HIV infection in these groups. "Together with the support of PEPFAR, the Vietnamese government commits to continue building sustainable financial mechanisms for the transfer of HIV/AIDS prevention and control services, enhancing the participation of the private sector and social organisations in investing and providing HIV/AIDS prevention and control services to ensure effective use of mobilised resources," she said./.