The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on December 15 launched the Local Health System Sustainability (LHSS) project in Vietnam. (Photo: VNA)

The project aims to strengthen the Vietnamese Government’s capacity to sustainably manage HIV and tuberculosis (TB) programmes towards 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 Health Ministry’s agencies, and other leaders from Vietnam Social Security and the Ministry of Finance attended the event.

Through the LHSS Vietnam project, USAID will continue to work with the Vietnamese Government, focusing on four main objectives - strengthening public financial management systems for the health sector and finding greater efficiencies in social health insurance; increasing and improving the efficiency of domestic financing of HIV prevention and treatment services; strengthening the capacity of  Vietnam’s supply chain management system; and integrating TB services into social health insurance.
Speaking at the launching event, USAID/Vietnam Mission Director Ann Marie Yastishock congratulated the Vietnamese Government and the Ministry of Health on the successful transition of HIV response from donor to domestic funding, with Social Health Insurance (SHI) as the primary financing mechanism.

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

“This is a remarkable trajectory of success - one we are all proud to share with Vietnam. USAID, through PEPFAR, has supported the government in updating policies and building systems that would support this transition,” she stressed.
LHSS Vietnam is a four-year project (2020 – 2024) with a planned budget of 13.9 million USD, funded by the US government through PEPFAR and USAID.

It is a part of USAID’s global initiative in integrated health systems strengthening to help low- and middle-income countries transition to sustainable, self-financed health systems as a means to support access 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 implement two finance projects in the medical sector, comprising the health finance and governance project and the USAID Sustainable Financing for HIV project.