The USAID Sustainable HIV and Tuberculosis Response from Technical Assistance (SHIFT) project strengthens and delivers innovative enhancements in HIV and TB services. In order to help Vietnam achieve its target to end TB by 2030, the USAID SHIFT project aims to implement strategic, high priority interventions that will be piloted and then scaled up, with a goal to “bend the curve” toward TB elimination. Despite having the third-highest burden of MDR-TB in Vietnam, An Giang province does not have a dedicated treatment site for this disease. To address this, USAID worked in collaboration with Vietnam’s National TB Program, provincial health authorities, and hospital leadership to submit a proposal to establish an MDR-TB site in An Giang Provincial General Hospital. On April 3, the head of the National TB Program approved the plan and tasked key parties to develop an implementation plan to open the MDR-TB treatment site by August.

So What? More than 150 MDR-TB patients in An Giang will no longer need to travel once a month to nearby provinces for treatment (which usually lasts 9 to 24 months); thereby reducing transmission risks and improving treatment compliance due to patient convenience.