Vietnam is preparing to transition TB treatment services from the National Targeted Program (which provides individual funding streams for HIV, TB, etc.) to the Social Health Insurance (SHI) Fund. This transition will require patients, health staff, facilities, and provinces to meet strict SHI requirements. To this end, the USAID Sustainable HIV and TB Responses from Technical Assistance project worked with provincial leaders, relevant officials and staff of the Department of Health Insurance, and the National Tuberculosis Control Program to develop a provincial preparedness assessment, which included assessing provincial health systems, TB programming, and SHI implementation to date. This process has already identified gaps in health worker certification, funding gaps for specimen transport, and SHI eligibility concerns for TB facilities.
So What? USAID support of the transition of TB treatment to be covered by SHI will help policy makers create the relevant government guidance and will take Vietnam one step further in its journey to self-reliance in the health sector.