Social health insurance (SHI), the Vietnamese Government’s primary domestic resource for sustainable HIV treatment, will cost $33 per person for annual SHI enrollment and approximately $150 copayment fees for one year of initial antiretroviral therapy (ART). This is a big financial burden for many poor people living with HIV (PLHIV), especially in rural or mountainous areas, such as Lao Cai province. To help solve this challenge, USAID’s Sustainable HIV Response from Technical Assistance (SHIFT) project recently worked with the Lao Cai Provincial AIDS Center and Department of Health to develop a financial sustainability plan for HIV/AIDS treatment, which includes local funding from the Provincial People’s Committee to cover SHI premium and copayment fees.

So What? As donor funding for HIV services declines, with this plan in place, over 1,500 PLHIV in Lao Cai will have continued access to affordable and uninterrupted HIV treatment.