PANO – With funds from the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on September 6th launched another five years of collaboration with the Vietnam Ministry of Health, Administration for HIV/AIDS Control (VAAC), to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS in Vietnam.
Vice Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long, CDC and VAAC program staff, and provincial leaders discussed the achievements and lessons learned over the past five years and outlined strategic goals for the next phase of collaboration to further reduce HIV/AIDS infections, provide care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS, and build capacity of the national health system.
“The last 5 years of the VAAC-U.S. CDC collaboration has achieved remarkable results and contributed significantly to the control of HIV/AIDS and the successful implementation of the National Strategy on HIV/AIDS in Vietnam,” said Vice Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long.
Dr. Michelle McConnell, CDC Country Director, emphasized capacity building as a critical part of the strategy to ensure sustainability. “We have had 14 years of a very successful partnership and today marks the beginning of a new phase of that partnership. We – CDC, VAAC, and very importantly, the provincial leadership – must work together to build capacity and plan for sustainability.”
CDC has been working with Vietnam since 2001 and Vietnam has received almost US $600 million in PEPFAR funds to provide life-saving HIV/AIDS care and treatment services since 2004. Last year, CDC provided HIV testing and counseling services for about 120,000 people and care services to over 80,000 people living with HIV/AIDS.
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Đăng ký: VietNam News
