On the afternoon of December 20th, Hanoi Medical University Hospital launched the Department of Tropical Diseases and Harm Reduction with the support of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
This is a new milestone in the long-term co-operation between the two partners in the field of HIV and other infectious diseases control in Vietnam. Hanoi Medical University Hospital is youthful but always tries to apply new treatment methods and trains them to many Vietnamese doctors. Therefore having an infectious disease department is very important.
Speaking at the event, Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Lan Hieu. MD. PhD, Director of Hanoi Medical University Hospital, thanked the US Embassy, US CDC and other parties for their efforts and support to the hospital to formally establish a department for the treatment of infectious diseases, and in addition, carry out extensive activities to help patients’ lives such as assisting HIV patients to reintegrate into the community. This is what sets the department special to other infectious diseases departments.
Assoc. Prof. TS.BS Nguyen Lan Hieu delivered a speech.
Chargé d’Affaires of the US Embassy in Vietnam, Ms. Marie Damour, reaffirmed the US and US CDC’s strong commitment to building the health capacity of organizations in Vietnam. The US appreciates and is proud of the cooperation relationship and appreciates the Hanoi Medical University Hospital as one of the strong units in research and training. Ms. Damour believes that the newly established department will be a great unit for new patients and expects good results from the pilot models that the department has and will deploy in the near future.
The Department of Tropical Diseases and Harm Reduction was established in January 2021. The department currently includes a COVID-19 screening area, a tropical disease clinic, and a Sexual Health Promotion clinic (abb. SHP Clinic, specializing in consulting and treating sexual transmitted infections). Some functions and tasks of the department include examination and treatment of acute infectious diseases, chronic viral hepatitis (VGB, HCV); HIV screening, diagnosis, treatment and prevention, drug harm reduction, implementation of scientific research, related training and education.
US Charge d’Affaires and Dr. Vu Quoc Dat visited the clinic of the Department of Tropical Diseases and Harm Reduction.
Strong partnership
Since October 2012, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has sponsored the Hanoi Medical University (HMU) and Hanoi Medical University Hospital (HMUH) in activities that play an important role in controlling the disease. HIV epidemic control in Vietnam, contributing to supporting experts in substance abuse treatment and HIV prevention in key populations, and scaling up the capacity of university research centers.
“In nine years, our total funding amounted to almost $5 million. In addition to finance, the cooperation is also technical. Experts from CDC and Hanoi Medical University have worked and contributed to HIV prevention in Vietnam. We are very proud of this,” said Dr. Eric Dziuban, director of the US CDC in Vietnam.
From 2017-2019, the US CDC funded an important study on HIV incidence among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Hanoi. The results showed that for every 100 MSM, 7 people could be infected with HIV within a year. These data also helped guide the strategic direction of the PEPFAR Program (U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) on HIV prevention among MSM.
A newly facility of Tropical Diseases and Harm Reduction Interventions was established.
Realizing the need for HIV prevention services for the MSM community, in 2019, the US CDC initiated support for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) at the SHP Clinic of Hanoi Medical University Hospital. PrEP is a medication that people at high risk for HIV take to remain HIV-negative. This is the first time that a university hospital’s clinic in Vietnam has prescribed HIV drugs, and Hanoi Medical University Hospital is still the only academic institution that has performed ARV prescriptions so far. In the past year, SHP Clinic has provided PrEP to nearly 3,000 clients.
To create opportunities to access treatment for infectious diseases and continue to be “a one stop shop model” to provide comprehensive services for MSM and other key populations, Hanoi Medical University Hospital has continued to further develop the clinic, added services to treat infectious diseases, hepatitis B and C, medical services for people living with HIV and other services for key populations at the newly established Department of Tropical Diseases and Harm Reduction (DTDHR).
Efforts to support HIV patients during the pandemic
Dr. Eric Dziuban added that the US CDC and Hanoi Medical University as well as Vietnamese health agencies have made many cooperative efforts to support HIV/AIDS patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“During COVID-19, because of social distancing measures, HIV/AIDS patients may be no longer able to access services and medicines. So our teams have worked tirelessly to help them overcome these barriers. Sometimes it’s about receiving larger amounts of medicine so they don’t have to go to the clinic too frequent, in addition, there is TelePrEP service to help support and counsel for patients remotely.
We are also working with the Vietnamese Ministry of Health so that people living with HIV can be given priority to get vaccinated, because they are at high risk for COVID-19 and when infected, they are also more susceptible to become severe.”
According to Chargé d’Affaires Marie Damour, the establishment of the Department of Tropical Diseases and Harm Reduction at Hanoi Medical University Hospital with the support of CDC this time will help people living with HIV with safe and healthy lives, while reducing the spread of the disease. The model of providing comprehensive services so that not only people living with HIV but also those in other infectious disease risk groups, in fear of discrimination, can have the services they need is a very important thing..
According to VTC News
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