17. Capacity and barriers in diagnosis and treatment of advanced HIV disease and opportunistic infections of ARV clinics in Vietnam

Vu Quoc Dat, Le Thi Hoa, Nguyen Thuy Linh, Nguyen The Hung, Nguyen Le Hiep

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Abstract

In 2021, Vietnam’s Ministry of Health adopted the World Health Organization’s Package of Care For People With Advanced HIV Disease into the National Guidelines of HIV management to further reduce the burden of HIV-induced mortality. Our mixed research aimed to evaluate the feasibility of applying the Package in 41 clinical units in Vietnam. Results showed there were only 3/41 (7.3%) facilities conducted CD4 test or viral load locally. There were also limitations in diagnosis of opportunistic infections as 34/41 (82.9%) and 33/41 (80.5%) facilities were not able to identify cryptococcus and Talaromyces marneffei, respectively. Only 1 facility performed the serum CrAg test, and no facility could test CrAg in cerebrospinal liquid. The qualitative assessment reflected a shortage of human resources, equipment and biological materials for medical tests, and frequent interruption of medication supplies to treatment facilities.

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References

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