Ho Chi Minh-Ville lance TelePrep

On September 27, the Health Department of Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) launched the TelePrep project. The Prep has been available in the country since March 2017 with the support of international funding. The project first started with a pilot phase whose results demonstrated the safety, efficacy, acceptability and feasibility of Prep in groups of men who have sex with men (MSM), of transgender and heterosexual partners, recalls the Courrier du Vietnam (September 28). At the end of June 2022, the TelePrEP project was opened in 33 public and private health establishments. This program referred 23,587 high-risk HIV-negative people to prevention services, 83% of them MSM. Why the launch of the TelePrep project? Two main reasons explain this. On the one hand, the Covid-19 crisis has had the effect that many people using Prep services or wishing to do so have not been able to access them. On the other hand, in Vietnam as in other countries, there is stigmatization, even discrimination, not only once morest people living with HIV, but also once morest those who are users of Prep, including MSM, this societal context can deter people from using this tool. Since August 2022, the health authorities have therefore chosen a third of the establishments that provide medical services to pilot the implementation of remote Prep with 60 people registering or switching to the TelePrep project. In this context, people do not need to go directly to the clinic, everything happens digitally. The distribution of drugs is done through a transport unit. “With this model, clinics can expand the scope of Prep service delivery, ensure flexibility, convenience, accessibility and privacy of people’s information,” said an official from the prevention and control department. HIV/AIDS at the Ministry of Health. The authorities are banking on the fact that the TelePrep project, deployed in Ho Chi Minh City, will help people living in provinces and cities without this system to use Prep.