New strategy needed to improve HIV treatment quality
A new strategy should be applied in HIV/AIDS prevention and control, with a focus on early treatment in HIV-positive cases, ambulatory treatment, and extending treatment services to jails and remote and poor areas, said a Health Ministry official.
Thua Thien-Hue (VNA)– A new strategy should be applied in HIV/AIDS prevention and control, with a focuson early treatment in HIV-positive cases, ambulatory treatment, and extendingtreatment services to jails and remote and poor areas, said a Health Ministryofficial.
Prof. Dr. Nguyen Hoang Long, headof the Vietnam Administration of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control, said that thestrategy aims to improve the quality of HIV/AIDS treatment.
It is also part of efforts to fulfillthe 90-90-90 target - 90 percent of all people living with HIV knowing theirHIV status, 90 percent of all people diagnosed with HIV receiving sustainedantiretroviral (ARV) therapy, and 90 percent of all people receivingantiretroviral therapy achieving viral suppression.
It is also necessary to integrateHIV treatment into hospital systems, especially health care facilities incommunes and wards to ensure treatment quality and reduce drug resistance.
Currently, only 172 out of 385 facilitieshave applied measures to improve the quality of treatment and care for HIV/AIDSpatients, Long noted at a two-day conference to review five years ofimplementing a quality improvement programme on HIV/AIDS treatment that openedon February 21.
The quality improvement programmefocuses on service provision, quality improvement and management. It began in2012, aiming to ensure all facilities provide standardised services, give earlyaccess to ARV treatement and keep in better contact with patients. Theprogramme has benefited more than 70,000 patients.
According to the VietnamAdministration of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control, more than 205,000 people areliving with HIV across the country.
So far, 385 outpatient treatmentfacilities have been opened in 63 cities and provinces nationwide, while nearly1,000 communes and wards have provided antiretroviral medicine and supportedpatients during the treatment, and 115,594 patients have receivedantiretroviral therapy.-VNA
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Illustrative Image (Source: At Home STD Tests) 
