Health

Over the past several decades, the Government of Vietnam (GVN) has made remarkable strides in improving the health of the country’s citizens. However, much remains to be done in the areas of HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and global health security. The siloed and decentralized public health system can be bureaucratic and inefficient. The national health response to HIV often does not prioritize most at-risk populations such as men who have sex with men or transgender people. USAID partners with the GVN to build health systems to be inclusive, address both longstanding and emerging infectious disease threats, and plan, finance, and implement solutions to public health challenges to ensure better health for the people of Vietnam, and promote a world that is safe and secure by containing threats where they arise.

Under the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), USAID collaborates with the GVN and a robust civil society sector to expand and improve HIV prevention and treatment services. USAID partners with the National TB Program to improve TB case finding and strengthen national TB diagnostic and treatment systems. For both HIV and TB, USAID helps build foundational health systems to advance local ownership and GVN leadership of HIV and TB prevention and treatment programs. The GVN has significantly increased its domestic resources over the years for the HIV response. Specifically, the GVN funds HIV treatment through its Social Health Insurance (SHI) scheme and is procuring HIV drugs for an increasing share of patients — up to 70 percent, as of the end of 2021. USAID’s Global Health Security activities aim to increase Vietnam’s effectiveness to prevent, detect, and respond to priority global health threats posed by infectious diseases. USAID partners take a “One Health” approach in addressing emergence of potential pathogens and spillover across the animal, human, and ecosystem interfaces.

COVID-19 RESPONSE

The COVID-19 pandemic has cost more than five million lives around the world and continues to upend the global economy, exacerbate humanitarian crises, and reverse years of global health and development gains. In 2020, USAID provided more than $12 million in COVID-19 response management and mitigation assistance to Vietnam. This includes $4.7 million to prepare laboratory systems, support technical experts in preparedness and response, prevent infections in health care settings, increase community engagement, and provide public health screening at points of entry. It also includes 100 American-made ventilators. USAID has also provided $5 million to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Vietnamese economy, providing support to nearly 2,000 small and medium enterprises to overcome supply chain gaps and other challenges presented by COVID.

In 2021, USAID announced $8 million for Vietnam through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to accelerate equitable access to, and delivery of, safe and effective COVID-19 vaccinations, and strengthen Vietnam’s health system to respond to COVID-19. Specifically, USAID is supporting the Government of Vietnam with rolling out COVID-19 vaccinations in 5-7 underprivileged provinces with vulnerable populations such as ethnic minorities who live in mountainous regions. Additionally, USAID will strengthen national COVID-19 response systems through the following activities: hospital-level infection prevention and control strengthening; intensive care training at COVID-19 hospitals; and installation of appropriate oxygen systems at health facilities. USAID is also procuring emergency supplies such as patient monitors and personal protective equipment to assist with response to COVID-19 outbreaks as they arise.

PROJECTS - HIV

• Meeting Targets and Maintaining Epidemic Control (EpiC) strengthens and delivers innovative enhancements in HIV services and helps transition the HIV/AIDS response to host country ownership through targeted technical assistance in six provinces in Vietnam in order to accomplish the country’s ambitious “90-90-90” targets. [2020-2024, est. $16 million]
• USAID Local Assistance to Develop and Deliver Excellence, Resilience, and Sustainability in Vietnam (LADDERS) identifies high-risk, hard-to-reach people living with HIV and connects them to HIV testing and treatment services, and aims to sustainably expand the availability and accessibility of high-quality health products and services in communities. [2021-2026, $15 million]
• USAID Support for Technical Excellence and Private Sector Sustainability in Vietnam (STEPS) aims to stimulate increased market growth for private sector HIV goods and services by sustainably expanding the availability and accessibility of high quality health products and services through private sector approaches and partnerships with commercial and for-profit entities. [2021-2026, $15 million]
• Local Health System Sustainability (LHSS) works with the Government of Vietnam to increase domestic financing for health and strengthen the sustainability of domestic financing mechanisms for Vietnam’s greater financial, administrative, and technical ownership of its HIV and TB response. [2020-2024, $12.3 million]
• Digital Square promotes health information system (HIS) efficiencies and enhances data use for decision-making for PEPFAR-supported provinces. [2020-2022, $3 million]

PROJECTS – TB

• Infectious Disease Detection and Surveillance Program (IDDS) provides technical assistance to strengthen the National TB Program’s capacity to provide accurate and timely TB and MDR-TB detections. [2018-2023, $6.9 million]
• Tuberculosis Implementation Framework Agreement (TIFA) Program provides the National TB Program with additional resources to improve its in-service training and supervision to ensure TB service quality, and to advocate before the Government of Vietnam for political and financial commitment to reach Vietnam’s goal to end TB by 2030. [2019-2024, $2.2 million]
• Sustaining Technical and Analytical Resources (STAR) Program provides the National TB Program (NTP) with technical advisors to improve NTP internal capacity to manage its supervision and supply chain networks.  [2018-2023, $1.1 million]
• Erase TB increases TB detection and access to care; strengthens the capacity of local organizations and private sector providers to engage in the TB response; and accelerates a decline in new TB cases in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. [2020-2023, $2 million]
• USAID Support to End TB improves capacity of all levels of the NTP system to better plan and implement critical interventions to achieve the End TB goal. The project also equips the NTP with information and technical guidance on new global initiatives and best practices on TB, MDR-TB, and Latent TB Infection detection and treatment. [2020-2025, $15 million]

PROJECTS - GLOBAL HEALTH SECURITY 

• Risk Mitigation and Management of Human Health Threats along Animal Value Chains supports biosecurity at wildlife and livestock farms, surveillance and reporting of animal health threats, and an enhanced focus on ending the commercial trade and consumption of wild birds and wild mammals. [2020-2024, $10 million]
• One Health Workforce-Next Gen (OHW-NG) trains the next generation of health workers in One Health principles and practices. [2020-2024, $2.4 million]
• Working Towards Global Public Health Security (WHO) strengthens Vietnam’s capacity to prevent, detect, assess and respond to public health emergencies. This project focused heavily on COVID-19 technical support to the Ministry of Health in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, and continues its broad support for nearly all aspects of public health in Vietnam. [2020, $700,000]
• Infectious Diseases Detection and Surveillance (IDDS) – Global Health Security builds capacity at provincial and district levels in surveillance, specimen collection and transport, event-based surveillance, and reports across both human and animal health sectors. [2020-2024, $1.7 million]
• Strategies to Prevent Spillover (StoPS) seeks to enhance understanding and reduce risk of viral spillover, amplification, and spread by monitoring and characterizing risks of spillover from animals to people, and by developing and implementing interventions to reduce zoonotic spillover risks and mitigate spread in human populations.
• Transformational Strategies for Farm Output Risk Mitigation (TRANSFORM) aims to support, from a private sector perspective, USAID's efforts to reduce the economic and public health impacts associated with emerging zoonotic infectious diseases that spill over from animals to humans, and antimicrobial resistance originating in the animal production industry.