On the eve of the 30th World AIDS Day on November 30, Vietnam's Ministry of Health (MOH), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and global health non-profit organization PATH announced the nationwide launch of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) services for HIV prevention in Vietnam.
Illustrative photo.
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PrEP is extremely effective when taken correctly, and is proven to reduce the risk of HIV infection by 92 percent or more. Since 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) has strongly recommended PrEP as an additional prevention choice for people at substantial risk of HIV.
"International guidance, plus the in-country evidence generated from pilot programs led by the MOH and implemented by the USAID/PATH Healthy Markets project and UNAIDS, shows that PrEP is an effective method for HIV prevention for those most at risk of HIV,” said Associate Professor Phan Thi Thu Huong, the vice director of Vietnam Administration for HIV/AIDS Control (VAAC).
“This is why Vietnam has established and will implement the national plan for PrEP for 2018-2020, making PrEP available for at least 7,300 people in at least 11 provinces by 2020," said Huong.
This important step makes Vietnam the second country in Asia, after Thailand, to roll out PrEP nationwide. "We will take good care of PrEP users by providing them with sufficient information about the prevention of sexually transmitted infections including HIV, and will also aim to negotiate with PrEP providers to reduce the treatment cost so people who are in need can more easily access PrEP," she added.
The launch of PrEP in June 2017 made a critically important HIV prevention tool available to those most at risk in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi," said Dr. Kimberly Green, chief of party for Healthy Markets.
“The national scale-up of PrEP is essential to dramatically bending down the curve of new HIV infections in Vietnam." she aded.
PrEP’s roll-out will begin in nine provinces in 2019 before expanding to eleven provinces in 2020.
"The nationwide launch of PrEP in Vietnam has been a long-standing goal of PEPFAR and USAID," said Mary Tarnowka, US Consul General.
By working together with USAID to introduce and now roll-out PrEP nationwide, the 2030 HIV elimination goals are one step closer," Tarnowka concluded.
