Men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender (TG) communities are disproportionately affected by HIV and the stigma associated with it in Vietnam. In order to address this problem, USAID developed Reach 4.0 - a strategy that combines an effective use of online platforms and communities as well as offline events to target high-risk groups and hidden key populations with the goal of increasing HIV case finding. On September 11, USAID’s Sustainable HIV Response from Technical Assistance (SHIFT) project partnered with Blue Sky Club, a civil society group, and the Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) Provincial AIDS Center to host a Reach 4.0 event, which was attended by Deputy Chief of Mission Caryn R. McClelland. At this event, 70 MSM and TG people received on-site HIV lay testing services - HIV services administered by non-professional providers - and six of them were counselled, and linked to confirmatory HIV diagnosis and treatment.

So What? In order for Vietnam to reach epidemic control, it will need innovative strategies to identify new HIV cases, particularly in high risk and stigmatized populations such as MSM and TG. Reach 4.0 is a successful online-offline combination model that has consistently identified and confirmed at least 8% of those tested at all events as HIV-positive and then linked them to treatment. Later this month, USAID will join local health authorities and MSM community leaders to officially launch the model in Hanoi.