Transgender Women Connected to HIV Testing, Care & Treatment

Speeches Shim

Thursday, July 6, 2017

Ensuring that key populations (including men who have sex with men, transgender communities, female sex workers, and people who inject drugs) can access HIV prevention and testing services is a priority for PEPFAR Vietnam and civil society organizations (CSOs) play a critical role in this process. In late April, the USAID Sustainable HIV Response from Technical Assistance (SHIFT) project, with the Ho Chi Minh City Provincial AIDS Center, VNP+ (Vietnam National Network of People Living with HIV) and several Ho Chi Minh City-based CSOs launched the first HIV prevention and outreach campaign focused on reaching at-risk transgender women. Within 35 days, this pilot activity reached and counseled 185 transgender women and provided HIV testing for 154 transgender women,  of whom 13 were diagnosed as HIV positive. So what? This focused outreach is helping Vietnam reach its 90-90-90 goals, where by 2020, 90% of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status; 90% of all people with diagnosed HIV infection will receive sustained antiretroviral therapy; and 90% of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression.