As the HIV response is being integrated into the general healthcare system, raising awareness of healthcare workers is important in addressing discrimination and stigma.
HIV patients receive treatment at Phạm Ngọc Thạch Hospital in HCM City (Photo VNA)
HCM City (VNA) - As theHIV response is being integrated into the general healthcare system, raisingawareness of healthcare workers is important in addressing discrimination andstigma. “Stigma and discrimination relatedto HIV remain among the biggest barriers to universal access to HIV healthservices, and this leads to a high number of AIDS-related deaths,” saidMarie-Odile Emond, country director of UNAIDS (United Nations Programme onHIV/AIDS) Vietnam. Despite great efforts from theGovernment and affected communities over the years, discrimination stillexists in schools, workplace, family, community and healthcare facilities, shesaid at a conference held in HCM City on December 1. This has hindered Vietnam’s progresstowards achieving testing and treatment 90-90-90 targets (90 percent of allpeople living with HIV will know their HIV status; 90 percent of all peoplewith diagnosed HIV infection will receive sustained antiretroviral therapy; and90 percent of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viralsuppression) and the goal of ending AIDS by 2030, she said. Vietnam has a clear supportive legalframework that addresses HIV stigma and discrimination, including the Law onHIV/AIDS Prevention and Control and many sub-law instruments.
“The challenge often lies ininconsistent enforcement of these across all sectors and at all levels, and asthe law cannot cover all situations,” she added. In 2015, UNAIDS launched afast-track approach, focusing on innovative interventions to reducediscrimination in healthcare settings in lar꧑geℱ cities, including HCM City.
The pilot project was implementedbetween September 2016 and December 2017 in three health facilities in HCMCity: Pham Ngoc Thach Hospital in HCM City, District 6 Hospital, and District 4Preventive Medical Centre. The project includes two majorcomponents: assessment of sigma and discrimination in healthcare settings andinterventions to reduce HIV related sigma and discrimination. After more than a year ofimplementation, the results and useful lessons learned from the project willinform the national policy to reduce discrimination in healthcare settings andexpand this effort in other high-burden provinces, with support fromdevelopment partners. Findings from the project show thatit was necessary to measure stigma and discrimination in healthcare settings todevelop evidence-based interventions that would improve the quality of healthcare services. A participatory training approachwith healthcare workers to share views and agree on action, as well as dialoguebetween patients and health care providers to better understand stigma anddiscrimination issues and health facilities’ procedures, are critical factorsto reduce HIV-related stigma and discrimination. Discrimination comes from limitedawareness and knowledge of HIV, HIV transmission, and lack of universalprecautions among healthcare workers, said Le Tien Dung, deputy director of PhamNgoc Thach Hospital. The programme’s participatorytraining with healthcare workers proved useful and led to initial changes, accordingto Dung.-VNA
The number of new HIV infections has been on the rise in Vietnam, especially among men who have sex with men (MSM) and those with unsafe sexual behaviours..
To ensure delivery of HIV treatment services, the health sector in Ho Chi Minh City is accelerating coverage of health insurance for HIV patients as donor funding for antiretroviral (ARV) drugs and treatment will end in a few years now that Vietnam Nam has reached lower middle-income status as classified by the World Bank.
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The People’s Committee of Hanoi launched a campaign on November 22 to respond to the national month on HIV/AIDS prevention and control (November 10-December 10) and the World AIDS Day (December 1).
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HIV patients receive treatment at Phạm Ngọc Thạch Hospital in HCM City (Photo VNA) 
