Linking key population (KP) HIV patients to public HIV services has proven slow and challenging in Hanoi. To help improve access to health care, USAID implemented a Community - Public Partnership (C2P), which pairs KP-led community based organizations (CBOs) with public health facilities. First developed by USAID’s Enhanced Community HIV Link - Southern activity in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), C2P has been successful in increasing and maintaining the number of KPs accessing HIV services in the public sector. To support KP groups in Hanoi, USAID’s Enhanced Community HIV Link - Northern activity and the Hanoi Center for Disease Control co-organized a launching workshop for the C2P initiative on January 12. Co-chaired by the Vietnam Administration of HIV/AIDS Control and USAID, with full participation from 11 CBOs and 20 public health facilities in Hanoi, the workshop highlighted the indispensable role of CBOs in the city’s HIV/AIDS programs over the last three decades and laid out a concrete strategy to formalize the partnership between CBOs and the public health sector. All health facilities showed keen interests in community-based services and demonstrated strong will to foster collaboration for more effective and higher quality HIV services in Hanoi.
So what? This recognition of CBOs marks a significant change in the positioning of CBOs in the HIV response, and is expected to lead to improved case finding and retention and further support Vietnam to achieve its ambitious target of eliminating HIV/AIDS transmission by 2030.