Hanoi (VNA) – The United States Agencyfor International Development (USAID) on December 15 launched the Local HealthSystem Sustainability (LHSS) project in Vietnam.

The project aims to strengthen the VietnameseGovernment’s capacity to sustainably manage HIV and tuberculosis (TB) programmestowards achieving the country’s commitment to end HIV and TB by 2030.

USAID/Vietnam Mission Director Ann Marie Yastishock, Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen and representatives of the HealthMinistry’s agencies, and other leaders from Vietnam Social Security and theMinistry of Finance attended the event.

Through the LHSS Vietnam project, USAID will continueto work with the Vietnamese Government, focusing on four main objectives - strengtheningpublic financial management systems for the health sector and finding greaterefficiencies in social health insurance; increasing and improving theefficiency of domestic financing of HIV prevention and treatment services; strengtheningthe capacity of  Vietnam’s supply chainmanagement system; and integrating TB services into social health insurance.

Speaking at the launching event, USAID/Vietnam MissionDirector Ann Marie Yastishock congratulated the Vietnamese Government and the Ministryof Health on the successful transition of HIV response from donor to domesticfunding, with Social Health Insurance (SHI) as the primary financing mechanism.

Vietnam now has 90 percent of HIV patients enrolled inSHI. All treatment facilities can now be reimbursed for HIV services. Mostimportantly, SHI funds are now used to procure anti-retroviral drugs, the mostexpensive component of an HIV response.

“This is a remarkable trajectory of success - one weare all proud to share with Vietnam. USAID, through PEPFAR, has supported thegovernment in updating policies and building systems that would support thistransition,” she stressed.

LHSS Vietnam is a four-year project (2020 – 2024) witha planned budget of 13.9 million USD, funded by the US government throughPEPFAR and USAID.

It is a part of USAID’s global initiative in integratedhealth systems strengthening to help low- and middle-income countriestransition to sustainable, self-financed health systems as a means to supportaccess to universal health coverage.

According to Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen,between 2014 and 2020, his ministry has closely coordinated with USAID to implementtwo finance projects in the medical sector, comprising the health finance andgovernance (HFG) project and the USAID Sustainable Financing for HIV (SFA)project.

Within the framework of the event, there was a seminaron domestic human resources for health care./.