PRESS RELEASE

May 31, 2006

Launch of a Campaign to Promote HIV Voluntary Counseling and Testing in Vietnam

An event to mark the launch of a communications campaign to promote voluntary counselling and testing for HIV (VCT) services in Vietnam will be held in Ha Noi May 31 at 9 am. The event, with support from the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR), will be attended by the Vice Minister of Health, Dr. Nguyen Thi Xuyen, the U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission John S. Boardman, leaders of Hanoi’s People Committee, Vietnam Administration of AIDS Control (VAAC), MOH/Life-Gap Project, representatives from International and local organizations, and mass media agencies. Following introductory speeches, attendees and journalists are invited to tour a MOH/Life-Gap VCT site operated by the Ha Noi Sub Life-Gap Project to better understand how VCT works in the continuum of HIV/AIDS prevention and care.

The new communications campaign is implemented in target provinces by VAAC (MOH/Life-Gap Project) with technical support from Population Services International, a non profit NGO with extensive experience designing and implementing communications campaigns to promote VCT services. The campaign encourages populations, especially those most vulnerable to HIV and AIDS, to get tested at quality sites offering VCT. The marketing campaign intends to increase awareness and knowledge of what VCT is, emphasizing sites participating in this program as a quality and highly confidential service where nobody but the counselor and the client know the result of HIV testing.

The campaign emphasizes that VCT services are totally voluntary, free, anonymous, and the value of welcoming, friendly counseling as a key component of VCT services. Billboards and posters encourage clients come to talk with counselors and work out feelings of fear, concern, and answer questions related to HIV and AIDS. The campaign also emphasizes the importance of testing to clients as an important step in improving quality of life and living healthier by knowing their HIV status, whether they are positive or negative. Many sites (under MOH/Life-Gap Project) PSI is promoting carry the ‘Chân trời mới,’ or New Horizons logo and sign, signifying the site is of high quality and a chance for a new start.

The communication campaign will primarily promote VCT services operated under the MOH/Life-Gap project, a program supported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Vietnam Ministry of Health (MOH).  Since the first MOH/Life_Gap supported VCT center opened in Hai Phong in 2002, 53 sites have been established in 40 provinces, serving about 40,000 – 45,000 clients annually. 

Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) is an essential component of HIV/AIDS behavior change intervention and the National Strategy on HIV/AIDS prevention and control till 2010 with a vision to 2020. The goal of VCT is long term behavioral change based on knowing one’s HIV infection risk and HIV status. The service allows individuals to meet with a professional counselor, discuss issues around their risk of HIV/AIDS, then make a decision to have an HIV test or not. Clients are not required to provide their names, addresses or any other personal information. Instead, they are given client codes by the counselor in order to get their own testing results later on. The counselor is present when the individual receives test result to discuss with her/him about the result. The result will be given directly to only that individual when he/she returns with their own client code.  If the test is HIV positive, the individual receives immediate counseling on positive living and is referred to care and support services, such as regular medical care, OI treatment, ARV treatment, as well as methods to prevent HIV transmission to others. If the test is negative, then the individual receives more counseling on risk reduction to stay HIV negative, as well as to be referred to necessary services, such as reproductive health care, drug detoxification, STI treatment…. All services and test results are confidential and are not released to anyone other than the client.

Event to be held 9:00 am May 31 at a small Park 20 meters from #2 Truc Bach Street, Ba Dinh, Ha Noi

About MOH/LIFE-GAP Project 

LIFE-GAP (Global AIDS Program - Leadership and Investment in Fighting an Epidermic) is HIV/AIDS prevention and care program under Vietnam Ministry of Health with the technical and financial support from US through CDC office in Vietnam. 

MOH/LIFE-GAP Project has three overall objectives: 1) To reduce HIV transmission by effective basic prevention methods; 2) To improve care and treatment for HIV positive people; and 3) To improve quality of services and local capacity in HIV/AIDS prevention and care in Vietnam. Main project activities include: VCT, care and treatment for HIV positive people in outpatient clinics, community outreach, prevention of mother to child transmission, and linkage of TB, STD, and HIV care and treatment . Project is currently implemented in 40 cities/provinces and 10 leading health institutes.

MOH/LIFE-GAP VCT Program

THE MOH/LIFE-GAP program applies a VCT model emphasizing prevention, risk reduction, and  client-focused counseling. All services are voluntary, free, and anonymous. The model follows a VCT protocol developed by the U.S. CDC adapted to fit the Vietnam context. The main components of a VCT program include: establishment of free community health counseling centers; training for counselors, technicians, supervisors, and administrators; free, voluntary, and confidential counseling and testing services; referral to related services such as outpatient clinic or outreach programs; monitoring and evaluation for quality control.

As of March 2006, MOH/LIFE-GAP project has established 53 VCT sites in 40 cities/provinces that have high HIV prevalence. Among 88,462 clients who came for counseling, 91.9% (81,385) decided to get tested; 92.5% (75.281) returned for test results and post-test counseling; 16.8% (12,647) were found to be HIV positive; and 91.8% HIV positive clients were referred to related services in which 67% were referred to outpatient clinics. VCT program is well integrated into other prevention and care programs. M&E and quality control activities have been carried out regularly to ensure service quality and improvement. The project has implemented a client satisfaction survey in Hai Phong and Thai Binh, and the survey results show that 95% interviewed clients were satisfied with the quality of VCT services provided.

About PSI

Population Services International (PSI) is the leading social marketing organization in the world, with projects in more than 64 countries on five continents and staff of about 4000 people.  A nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., PSI designs and implements programs worldwide to encourage the adoption of healthy behaviors and increase the availability of essential health products and services at prices affordable to low-income people.

PSI markets and promotes products, services, and information for family planning, HIV/AIDS and other STI prevention, and maternal and child health.  PSI’s campaigns motivate the informed use of these products and stimulate healthy behavior change.  PSI has gained extensive experience in social marketing worldwide in a wide variety of cultural, religious and economic settings.  PSI’s campaigns educate through mass media and interpersonal techniques and invest in local capacity in order to achieve positive, sustainable health impact.  PSI also works to develop and strengthen local industry, and trains local counterparts in public health and social marketing.

For more information on MOH/Life-Gap Project, please contact

Dr. Nguyễn Trọng Thắng, MOH/Life-Gap Project

E-mail: trongthang69@lifegap.org.vn,
Phone: 9745338 (ext: 31)

For more information on VCT communication campaign, please contact

Dr. Trình Thu Hằng, PSI
E-mail: hangtrinh@psi.org.vn
Phone: 772 3620