(CPV) - One of the US Government’s largest programs in support of people living with HIV in Vietnam has impacted 750,000 individuals since 2006 and has helped increase the number of local civil society organizations providing services to Vietnamese infected or affected by HIV/AIDS.
The Community REACH project, supported by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) with funding from the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), helped to enhance the scale, quality, and effectiveness of the civil-society response to HIV/AIDS through prevention, care, and treatment services. USAID’s main implanting partner, Pact, worked with 32 Vietnamese and international partners to offer grants, technical assistance and organizational capacity development services to implement 47 individual projects in 21 provinces.
“We expect that the achievements and lessons learned under this project will contribute to an increasing role for Vietnamese civil society organizations in helping those affected or infected by HIV/AIDS,” USAID Mission Director Francis Donovan told participants at a project close-out event in Hanoi on March 13.
PEPFAR-funded programs have focused on nine of the country’s largest urban centers, busiest ports, and highland provinces most affected by HIV, where the HIV prevalence can be as high as 55 percent among populations most at risk of acquiring and transmitting the virus. HIV prevalence in Vietnam’s general population is currently 0.28 percent. USAID’s and Pact’s project partners were among the first to provide services in remote mountainous regions of Lao Cai, Nghe An, and Quang Ninh.
Since 2004, the US Government through PEPFAR has contributed more than $500 million to support Vietnam’s efforts to prevent and control the spread of HIV, treat those who are living with HIV, and assist family members and other people affected by the disease./.