The Sustainable HIV and Tuberculosis Response From Technical Assistance (SHIFT) project, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), continues efforts to meet aggressive targets, outlined by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) 90-90-90 initiative, in three priority provinces — Dien Bien, Nghe An and Ho Chi Minh City — and transition the HIV/AIDS response to full government ownership in 11 provinces where the project operates, including the three aforementioned priority provinces.
The project differs from preceding HIV/AIDS programs by providing demand-driven technical assistance that government health entities can procure, with project assistance, through the soon-to-be-established Technical Assistance Marketplace that will be hosted on a web-based platform in collaboration with the Vietnam Administration for HIV and AIDS Control. For example, the project could facilitate technical assistance to support the consolidation and strengthening of HIV care and treatment systems, particularly to enable social health insurance coverage of HIV services, strengthen HIV patient enrollment in social health insurance, and support policy development and implementation related to the provision of HIV services, particularly through social health insurance.
Vietnam was the first country in Southeast Asia to adopt UNAIDS fast-track 90-90-90 targets, wherein by 2020, 90 percent of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status, 90 percent of all people with diagnosed HIV infection will receive sustained antiretroviral therapy, and 90 percent of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression. The SHIFT project’s mandate is to support the Government of Vietnam in reaching 90-90-90 targets in the priority provinces and in transitioning to full government ownership.
