USAID’s Enhanced Community HIV Link Northern activity regularly organizes district and commune advocacy meetings in Dien Bien and Nghe An provinces to troubleshoot HIV efforts (including barriers to access as well as clinical issues) among government and health care staff. Earlier this month, using materials acquired from USAID’s December advocacy meeting, Thanh Chuong District of Nghe An province organized a training workshop on how to reduce HIV stigma and discrimination for 150 district and commune leaders. The district also collaborated with the provincial AIDS Center to develop a plan to allocate local resources to replicate this training for more than 200 government officers during 2018.

So What? Apart from reducing subtle barriers to HIV testing and treatment, USAID supported HIV/AIDS advocacy and technical assistance is motivating local leaders to proactively use local resources to address Vietnam’s HIV epidemic.