The big news here is not that grossly overfunded Vietnam has more funding, but that MSI Myanmar has new funding. Congratulations and best of luck to MSI staff and beneficiaries.
He notes that voluntary counselling and testing appears to be viewed here as a prevention activity. It has never been proven to be effective for primary prevention of HIV infection. VCT should be seen as an entry point for care.
[him] moderator
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Vietnam, UK Ink 2.6 Million Euro HIV/AIDS Prevention Project
Vietnam News Brief Service
24 April 2006
The Vietnamese Ministry of Health and UK's Marie Stopes International
(MSI) on April 21 jointly signed an agreement on an MSI-funded
EUR2.6-million HIV/AIDS prevention project in three Southeast Asian
countries including Vietnam.
The project will perform voluntary HIV tests and give advice on HIV/AIDS
at Marie Stopes' reproductive health centers in Vietnam, Cambodia and
Myanmar.
As scheduled, the project will be carried out in five localities in
Vietnam, including Hanoi, central Ha Tinh and Nghe An provinces, southern
Binh Duong province and Ho Chi Minh City with a total capital of
EUR600,000.
Of the pledged funding, EUR85,700 has been set for sub-projects over two
years ranging from July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2008.
The project aims to interpose voluntary HIV/AIDS consultation and testing
services as regular activities at reproductive health centers so as to
improve contact with people of high-risk groups.
In a related development, the MSI on April 21 announced its survey on the
understanding, attitude and behavior towards HIV/AIDS of people aged
between 15-24 and female prostitutes at hotels and restaurants in the
project's five targeted localities.
The survey found that 25.2% of the asked young people thought that
HIV/AIDS can be transmitted though mosquito's stings while 10% of the
group said meal sharing could facilitate HIV/AIDS transmission.
Meanwhile, the majority of the female prostitutes involved had a better
understanding of the lethal disease; however, they rarely used condoms in
sexual relations due to sex buyers' opposition. Some of the sex buyers
even paid more money to the prostitutes for condom-free sexual relations.
Notably, the number of HIV/AIDS carriers sharply increases in central Ha
Tinh province, said Le Lanh, chairman of the provincial Committee for
Population, Family & Children, adding that the sum of people aged between
20-39 makes up 90% of the HIV/AIDS patients.
Vietnam identified an additional 952 people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWH) in
March, up 1.7 times over the previous month. The figure had accelerated
the country's total PLWH to 105,600 by March 20. Of whom, 17,800 have
developed AIDS and 10,300 have died of the disease.
The country also endeavors to reduce the HIV/AIDS infection rate to less
than 0.3% in 2010 and remain the ratio from the year and the upward.
correction:
Marie Stopes International’s Mekong HIV VCT project covering three
countries of Cambodia, Myamar and Viet Nam is co-financed by EU and Marie
Stopes International, with 90% financial contribution from EU and 10%
from MSI.
MSIVN signed the project documents with local health
authorities and the local NGO – Center for Community Reproductive Health
of Viet Nam (VNCRH), not the Ministry of Health
