The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and its partner PATH, a global health nonprofit, launched their new project STEPS in a fresh effort to end AIDS in Vietnam after celebrating the completion of their separate eight-year project. 

Concluding the past Healthy Markets project and kick-starting the new one were included in a session held in Hanoi on Tuesday, with the attendance of representatives from agencies concerned, including Bradley Bessire, deputy mission director of USAID Vietnam.

STEPS, or Support for Technical Excellence and Private Sector Sustainability, is a new five-year US$15 million project conducted by USAID in partnership with the U.S.-based PATH, or Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, and its core partner Glink Vietnam, the USAID said in a release on its website.    

The project aims to maintain the momentum of the Healthy Markets project and catalyze greater HIV- and primary healthcare-related market growth in Vietnam. 

Given more than 95 percent of the current oral PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) market is subsidized by international donors, a major focus of the project will be on increasing sustainable PrEP financing through a blend of commercial, public-financed, and free PrEP services, according to the USAID. 

STEPS will amplify access to integrated person-centered HIV and Primary Healthcare (PHC) services through innovative models of care; boost demand for and use of game-changing health tools and technologies; and identify promising new public-private collaborative approaches that could significantly enhance the sustainable supply, delivery, and demand for HIV and PHC goods and services.    

Bessire emphasized that the new project will be centered on ensuring sustainability of its collective progress and addressing key remaining gaps to ultimately help Vietnam achieve its commitment to end AIDS by 2030.

AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) is a chronic, potentially life-threatening condition caused by HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus).

Addressing the session, Assoc. Prof. Phan Thi Thu Huong, director of the Vietnam Administration for HIV/AIDS Control, said that USAID/PATH Healthy Markets continued to accelerate innovative health solutions that significantly contribute to the HIV/AIDS response in Vietnam.

“I trust that you will continue to maintain your momentum and the inspiring energy moving into the new USAID/PATH STEPS project,” Huong said.

Before the launch of the new project, the session focused on the significant outcomes of the Healthy Markets project that was conducted from 2014 until last year, with a $20.7 million grant from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

The project assisted the Vietnamese Ministry of Health in the introduction and scale-up of new and innovative approaches like HIV community-based testing, self-testing, and pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP – three key services that contributed to a 57 percent reduction in new HIV infections over the past decade.

As a result, HIV self-test kits are now widely available through pharmacies and e-commerce, community-based testing services are being offered in 33 of Vietnam’s 63 provinces and cities, and PrEP has been scaled to 29 provinces, according to the USAID.

Through Healthy Markets-supported models alone, nearly 218,000 people were tested for HIV in the community and 8,986 people newly diagnosed with HIV were enrolled on lifesaving treatment.

In addition, more than 46,000 HIV self-test kits were distributed and 16,700 people enrolled on PrEP, an oral pill that effectively prevents HIV infection when taken as prescribed.

“Over the past eight years, USAID support addressed critical gaps in accessible, affordable, community-based HIV care while strengthening the domestic market for HIV-related goods and services,” USAID cited Bessire as saying.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!