The USAID Sustainable HIV and Tuberculosis Response from Technical Assistance (SHIFT) project is helping transition the HIV/AIDS response to host country ownership in six provinces in Vietnam in order to accomplish the country’s ambitious target of eliminating HIV by 2030. While provincial authorities in Tay Ninh and Tien Giang provinces are committed to improving their provincial HIV programs, until recently, their improvement efforts were primarily ad-hoc. To address this, USAID SHIFT worked with representatives of these two provinces to develop and train a continuous quality improvement (CQI) response team consisting of provincial leaders, a community advisory board, USAID SHIFT staff, site staff, and other technical assistance providers. Under the leadership of a newly-appointed provincial CQI focal point, these teams will meet monthly to review provincial HIV data and community feedback, develop interventions, and review changes. The provincial health service authorities in Tay Ninh and Tien Giang signed official orders to formalize the CQI teams in early June, and the teams held their first meeting last week.

So What? By using the CQI methodology, provincial response teams will systematize and improve their HIV response efforts across these two provinces, taking them one step further in Vietnam’s Journey to Self-Reliance in the health sector transition.