The Changing Landscape of HIV in Vietnam: Populations, Treatment, and Prevention

UNC Project Vietnam, the Carolina Asia Center, and UNC Global Affairs are pleased to welcome Associate Professor Phan Thi Thu Huong (Director-General of the Vietnam Administration of HIV/AIDS control) and Dr. Le Minh Giang (Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Global Health at Hanoi Medical University) for a lecture about the Changing Landscape of HIV in Vietnam: Populations, Treatment, and Prevention.

Over the past decades, unsafe substance use and unsafe sexual behaviors have been the drivers of the HIV epidemic in Vietnam and many other Asian countries. Building research and implementation capacity to address both substance use and unsafe sex have been critical for public health in Vietnam. The Vietnam Administration of HIV/AIDS Control (VAAC) has led the effort to improve HIV care and prevention in Vietnam, including overseeing the adjustments necessary for an epidemic changing from predominantly substance use to sexual transmission among men who have sex with men. In addition to the governmental response, the Center for Training and Research on Substance Abuse and HIV (CREATA-H) of Hanoi Medical University has been instrumental in leading research to support the HIV response in Vietnam. Lessons learned for future public health capacity building in Vietnam and other Asian countries will be explored.

Assoc. Prof. Phan Thi Thu Huong, MD, PhD, the Director General of Vietnam Administration of HIV/AIDS Control has been working in Viet Nam HIV/AIDS response for more than 28 years. Her expertise includes management of HIV services and substantive experience in harm reduction; HIV counselling and testing; ARV treatment; laboratory quality management; health systems; HIV surveillance, monitoring, and evaluation; and co-infection treatment in HIV/HCV & TB/HIV. She has led the piloting and implementation of HIV prevention innovative models nationwide, including HIV lay-testing, self-testing, PrEP, and HIV/HCV co-infection treatment.

Dr. Le Minh Giang, MD, PhD, is an Associate Professor in epidemiology and global health at Hanoi Medical University, Vietnam. Over the past decade, he has led the Center for Training and Research on Substance Abuse and HIV (CREATA-H) to become a national center of excellence for addressing the burden of HIV, substance use and co-morbidities among most vulnerable populations in Vietnam. He has been Principal Investigator and Co-Principal Investigator of multiple grants funded by the US National Institutes of Health and other international funding agencies.