Vietnam’s Ministry of Health (MoH), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the global health non-profit organization PATH announced the nationwide launch of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) services for HIV prevention on November 30, state media reported. The event has been a long-standing goal of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and USAID, said U.S. Consul General in HCMC Mary Tarnowka at the launching ceremony, adding that the U.S. Federal Government has funded over $800 million to support Vietnam’s HIV/AIDS response so far. PrEP will be made available in 11 provinces by 2020. With a target of 7,300 people enrolled, it aims to provide these services to all those who need them nationwide. The Vietnam Administration for HIV/AIDS Control (VAAC), the USAID, and the PATH launched pilot PrEP services in June 2017 through the USAID/PATH Healthy Markets project, providing PrEP for 1,895 people at risk of HIV in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Vietnam annually records 8,000 new HIV cases and 3,000-4,000 deaths due to the disease. This year marked the tenth consecutive year that the country has seen decreases in the number of new cases and mortality from HIV/AIDS, according to the MoH. (SGGPNews, baotintuc.vn, tuoitre.vn, vtv.vn, vietnamplus.vn, sggpnews.org.vn, vietnamnews.vn, vietnamplus.vn, nhandan.com.vn, qdnd.vn, laodong.vn, qdnd.vn, baochinhphu.vn)
