As international donor funding for HIV treatment declines, Vietnam is using its Social Health Insurance (SHI) system to support HIV treatment and medications for people living with HIV. To ease this transition, USAID’s Global Health Supply Chain, Procurement and Supply Management (GHSC-PSM) project has been working with the Vietnam Administration of HIV/AIDS Control (VAAC) to develop a software to monitor and manage Antiretroviral (ARV) supplies. On September 14, USAID and VAAC hosted an event to officially hand over this software, known as HMED, to VAAC.

The software provides important functions required by VAAC, including ARV quantification, reporting, usage and stock monitoring, and ARV re-allocation and analysis. The event also included a workshop on HIV drug supply treatment and prevention in Vietnam, targeting ARV manufacturers and suppliers. The workshop facilitated an open dialogue between Government of Vietnam authorities and pharmaceutical companies to discuss changes in procurement processes, ARV supply in Vietnam, ARVs for pediatric patients, larger pack-size ARVs, and purchase and payment of ARVs procured by SHI.

So What? USAID is taking a comprehensive approach to addressing challenges with the ARV supply in Vietnam. HMED software will improve Vietnam’s capacity to effectively forecast ARV demand, and manage the drugs when they are in the country. Also, engaging drug manufacturers and distributors is crucial to overcoming supply side obstacles.