Illustrative image (Source: VNA)
(VNA) – Vietnam will face a huge budget deficit in health services
for people with HIV/AIDS in the next five years, an official from the HIV/AIDS
Prevention Agency, Duong Thuy Anh, said at a conference on insurance payments
for ARV therapy on November 28.
Anh said the
State budget could only reserve 100 billion VND (4.4 million USD) for
antiretroviral (ARV) therapy in 2016-20, but the demand is for about 600
billion VND (27 million USD).
She said
most people with HIV/AIDS cannot afford prolonged use of ARV and other drugs
for opportunistic infections.
Anh said
that was why Government and various agencies have been conducting discussions
on implementation of the Prime Minister’s decision on payment for ARV and
support for ARV users through health insurance.
“Only 40
percent of people with HIV/AIDS have enrolled in social health insurance, while
72 out of 385 (18.7 percent) of health service centres provided payment for
HIV/AIDS patients through insurance,” Anh said.
“The decision
will help people with HIV access health service and treatment, through
different sources, including a fund for the poor,” she said.
In some
places, AIDS patients had received support through flexible policies of the
local administration.
Tran Truong
Minh, from Vinh Phuc Province’s insurance, said the northern province has
allocated funds from donations and other sources to enable HIV/AIDS patients to
get treatment free of charge.
He said
people with HIV/AIDS still hesitate to get treatment at health centres due to
fear of discrimination.
Deputy
Minister of Heath, Nguyen Thanh Long, said the Prime Minister’s decision will
make a big change for people with HIV/AIDS.
“Vietnam has
followed the target over past nine years, and committed to complete the ’Zero
to HIV/AIDS’ campaign by 2030,” Long said.
“The country
has been seeking a flexible paying mechanism to ensure that 80 percent of
enroll in health insurance by the end of 2017 and 100 percent
in 2018,” Long said.
He said the
will cover full payment of and ARV for 90
percent of people with HIV/AIDS in 2018.
He said
90,000 have died and 230,000 live with the disease.
Meanwhile,
about 10,000 new cases of HIV/AIDS are diagnosed each year.
Long also
asked provincial health centres to provide drugs for HIV/AIDS patients from the
Insurance Fund starting next July.
The deputy
minister also said the ministry plans to provide health insurance for prisoners
with HIV/AIDS and offenders at rehabilitation centres.
Last month,
the city and the Vietnam Health Improvement Project (VNHIP) inked a new
agreement on health care for kids with HIV/AIDS in the city in 2017-21, with
total funding of 150,000 USD.
Vietnam
hopes to reduce the number of people with HIV to 0.3 percent by 2020.
The country
has committed to the global goal of Zero new HIV infections Zero
, Zero AIDS-related deaths, Long concluded.-VNA
Source: VietnamPlus
