Vietnam Passes Decree Allowing Non-health Professionals to Offer HIV Services - A First in Asia: USAID’s Healthy Markets project worked with health providers and the private sector to make HIV testing by lay providers and self-testing available in Vietnam since December 2015. As a result, in the last three years, more than 100,000 people have been tested for HIV, with 4,200 people diagnosed as HIV positive and successfully linked to treatment. However, Vietnamese law did not allow for non-health professionals to offer or charge for HIV testing.

On November 12, following two and half years of advocacy from USAID’s Healthy Markets project, the Government of Vietnam (GVN) approved a decree allowing non-health professionals to provide and charge for HIV testing services in community settings, including civil society organizations and social enterprises led by key populations at risk of HIV. This landmark decision makes Vietnam the first country in Asia, and among few in the world, to enable community-based HIV testing services for a fee. Community-based testing has been shown to be more effective at reaching those most at risk of HIV than conventional testing, and the GVN has committed to scale-up these services.

So What? As external donor support for HIV services and commodities in Vietnam continues to decline, this legislation helps to further USAID’s efforts to promote sustainability and self-reliance of Vietnam’s HIV response.