Speeches Shim
Vietnam and China are source, destination, and transit countries for the illegal wildlife trade. China's ban on ivory trade came into force in January 2018. Since then, illegal trade has increasingly moved to neighboring countries, such as Vietnam and Laos.
Dispensing of anti-retrovirals (ARVs) every month is a lot of work for HIV treatment clinics and takes travel time for HIV patients. To lessen this problem, Vietnam has begun implementing a multiple months dispensing approach, which allows some patients to collect more than one month of their ARVs when they need refills. Rolling out this new approach requires careful forecasting of the national ARV supply. USAID’s Global Health Supply Chain Program (GHSC-PSM) recently helped the Vietnam Administration of HIV/AIDS Control to develop and implement supply-chain management guidelines for this approach.
Persons living with HIV (PLHIV) in Dong Nai province, who are treated at provincial level health facilities can only get reimbursed through Social Health Insurance (SHI) if they have a referral letter from their local primary health care facility. This bureaucracy has led to patient attrition. Meanwhile, PLHIV in Phu Tho province receive treatment at their preferred facility without a referral letter because the Phu Tho Department of Health and Provincial Social Security have waived referral requirements for HIV treatment.
As a part of USAID’s disabilities program in Vietnam, USAID funds VietHealth - a local non-governmental organization - to implement the Disabilities Integration of Services and Therapies Network for Capacity and Treatment activity in three Vietnamese provinces, including Tay Ninh, Dong Nai, and Binh Phuoc. On May 11, USAID and VietHealth worked with local provincial authorities to launch the activity in a second location - Dong Nai province. The activity focuses on improving the detection of disabilities and designing interventions for children with mobility and/or developmental disabilities up to the age of six. In addition, the activity also provides training on rehabilitation and special education to commune, district and provincial level health practitioners, kindergarten teachers, and family members.
Since 2016, USAID’s Governance for Inclusive Growth (GIG) activity and Vietnam’s National Assembly have collaborated to support the implementation of the 2015 Law on Oversight. The revised law has provided a clearer framework for the National Assembly and Provincial People’s Councils to perform their oversight function. The Law enhances oversight quality and effectiveness by clarifying who does what, specific procedures, and the role of each department in supporting the oversight work.
Comment
Make a general inquiry or suggest an improvement.