USAID/LADDERS engages high school students in Dong Nai province to learn about safe sex and open a door for additional services.

USAID/LADDERS engages high school students in Dong Nai province to learn about safe sex and open a door for additional services.

Dong Nai – 23.2.2023 

The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Vietnam is most impacting young people under 29 years of agre who are engaging in unprotected sex. Concerningly, these young people have limited information and knowledge related to HIV prevention, treatment, and services, leading to a low utilization of health care services. LADDERS currently supports 32 community-based organizations and social enterprises (CBO/SEs) in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Dong Nai, Can Tho and Kien Giang provinces to provide critical support and services to vulnerable people, including students. Through the SAFE UNI model, CBOs/SEs enhance the knowledge of students in universities, colleges and vocational schools, particularly among at-risk groups, on HIV prevention and safe sex practices.

Last week, G-Net Bien Hoa CBO managed to conduct an offline SAFE UNI event for young students of Dinh Tien Hoang 2 high school in Dong Nai province. More than 200 hundred local young adolescents from grades 10 and 11 were present with school leaders and teachers. They participated in various interactive and informative activities promoting key messages of self-love, healthy lifestyle, and health-seeking habits while introducing free HIV testing, counseling, and PrEP services. Esteemed guest speakers including health experts from Bien Hoa OPC and LIFE Centre managed to engage the young audience, piquing their curiosity and provoking their excitement. Through games and interactions, students broaden their knowledge of gender/sexuality, HIV/AIDS and STIs along with additional information and fun tips about love, safe sex practices and healthy living. The organizer, G-Net Bien Hoa CBO, took the opportunity to promote their brand and deliver their HIV testing and counseling services on site during and after the events.

SAFE Uni events offer a safe space for students to raise concerns, discuss misinformation and freely learn and explore topics about gender, sex, health, and HIV/AIDS through talk shows, arts and booths delivered and showcased by community organizations. The younger the audience reached, the more timely the intervention might be in terms of HIV/AIDS prevention. This approach brings CBOs and universities/schools into a similar relationship as CBOs and HFs through the C2P+ model – utilizing and expanding the collaborations and impact of CBOs for serving the broader community through the power of engaging partnerships

Figure 1,2. The school leaders expressed and offered their full endorsement and support to such programs and interventions for young people (i.e. SAFE UNI) as it is crucial to debunk the taboo and myths of sex, health, HIV/AIDS and love. Students should have the opportunity to be more open and have safe space/opportunities to learn and share as their concerns and curiosities should be heard and discussed in a timely and thoughtful manner to be informative and impactful for their future.

.

Figure 3,4. Key messages related to sex and HIV/AIDS were sensitized, shaped and delivered that were age-appropriate for high school students in a witty GenZ way by community-friendly experts, capturing young participants’ attention and communicating in a way that resonated with them.

USAID/LADDER supports social contracting pilot in Dong Nai province as a key strategy to community sustainable development

USAID/LADDER supports social contracting pilot in Dong Nai province as a key strategy to community sustainable development

After six months of implementing the pilot social contracting in Dong Nai province, LADDERS in partnership with Dong Nai Center of Disease Control (CDC) and  EpiC/FHI360 convened a meeting to review progress of the program in 2022 and plan for the year 2023. For the first social contract, Dong Nai CDC has engaged Hung Vu Social Enterprise which was grown from Full House Dong Nai CBO.

At this meeting, Hung Vu shared how they performed the contracted tasks as well as overcame the challenges in close collaboration with Long Thanh District Health Center and with strong support from Dong Nai CDC. The challenges, as cited, included the low cost norm as compared with the sub-contract norm and also the volume of financial acquittal work. At the end of the meeting, Dong Nai CDC presented their 2023 social contracting plan with specific targets and deliverables, calling for local CBOs’ engagement, adoption and proposal.

Without community-led complementarity to the national response, epidemic control in Vietnam would not be possible. Sustainable solutions including social contracting help ensure that local resources can and will sustain efforts beyond the life of donor assistance. Social contracting is one of the key solutions for sustainable financing to sustain the role of community organizations in the HIV/AIDS response. Through technical support, LADDERS helps build capacities and readiness for social contracting towards contributing to a resilient and timely response to surge public health needs where government funding is available to support community service delivery.

Figrue 1. Dr Nguyen Xuan Quang, Head of HIV/AIDS Unit, Dong Nai CDC, presented the 2023 social contracting plan

Figure 2. USAID LADDERS staff, Ms Nhung Truong, presented the TA plan to enhance community capacities for CBO participating in social contracting pilot

 

USAID/LADDERS engages thousands of factory workers in a series of SAFE-ZONE campaigns, delivered by CBO/SEs through the DOME model, in a strategic collaboration with the Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) Labor Federation.

USAID/LADDERS engages thousands of factory workers in a series of SAFE-ZONE campaigns, delivered by CBO/SEs through the DOME model, in a strategic collaboration with the Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) Labor Federation.

HCMC, Jan-March

LADDERS, through the SAFE Zone campaign, has worked to enhance the knowledge of workers in industrial zones and factories/companies, particularly among young people, on HIV prevention and safe sex practices. The campaign does this by providing them with information and practices for their protection to ensure their well-being. In 2023, a strategic partnership with the HCMC Labor Federation allowed LADDERS to bring HIV services to the workplace to address access barriers. The Federation’s effort to coordinate and liaise with a number of companies/enterprises around the city has paved the way for 10 SAFE-ZONE campaigns to reach out to roughly 3,000 workers in various settings.

Four DOMEs, community one-stop shop models established under LADDERS, which includes M for M, Alo Boy, G3VN and Glink, have been conducting communications activities that engaged workers at the factory with these matured community groups. The outreach workers who are members of those organizations created activities that provided more detailed information according to the needs of each factory worker they engaged with, answering their  questions and supporting them to utilize available and beneficial services from their respective DOME to help meet these employees specific health needs.

Through this activity, these newly engaged workers are more familiar with the types of services provided by a DOME and building a relationship/trust with a particular DOME to further engage them to discuss various sexual health needs or issues. The DOME(s) assigned to specific employers continue to maintain their relationship with them in order to support ongoing activities and needs in which the DOME can help support newly diagnosed workers transition as clients to support on treatment or PrEP which are part of the strategic work to controlling HIV spread.

The sustained SAFE-ZONE campaign helps various workers in factory settings see the importance of health protection, especially sexual health. Bringing these services to the workplace also helps to address barriers of access which makes it more convenient for workers to utilize these health services, as well as providing information and connection to foster the utilization of these services among those who are most likely to benefit. This multi-stakeholder collaboration for convenient and effective SAFE-ZONE activities targeting factory workers should be considered for further documentation and institutionalization in the hope of building a healthy workforce for a sustainable and prosperous business and realizing the national policy of “Health for all”.

Figure 1,2,3. Shy as they might appear, these young workers quickly found themselves engaging in the interactive sessions delivered by charismatic MCs and guest speakers.

Figure 4,5. This SAFE ZONE event took place at venues where 75% of workers are young men. Each DOME managed to provide more than 200 participants with critical information about HIV, STIs, safe sex and PrEP, as well as services and key messages about health-seeking habits.

USAID/LADDERS supports community-based organizations to reach out to the army for the first time.

USAID/LADDERS supports community-based organizations to reach out to the army for the first time.

HCMC – 17.11.2022 

LIFE Centre, implementing the LADDERS project, currently supports 32 community-based organizations and social enterprises (CBO/SEs) across ten provinces where they provide critical support and services to vulnerable people from all walks of life- including priority populations such as students, factory workers and young people in the army, etc. Typically, young male troops in the Vietnamese army have limited access to information, communications and services related to sex, safe sex practices, HIV/STIs, PrEP/PEP and ARV treatment.

In an effort to reach out to this potentially at-risk group, LADDERS supported the Gate CBO to successfully host an event named “In the troop backpack” attended by more than 150 soldiers of the 434th Brigade in coordination with the Women’s Academy and leadership of the Brigade Command. The young individuals were impressed, excited and inquisitive as the presenting experts and community outreach workers conveyed information and knowledge of sex, safe sex practices and HIV/STIs via interactions, games and sharing activities.

They all learned the importance of embracing themselves, regular health check-ups, condom use and HIV treatment as well as being informed about PrEP/PEP and the ability of the Gate CBO to offer these and potential other desired health services. “In the troop backpack” offered an idea for young armed forces to stay extra safe, healthy and ready to serve the country, which is highly appreciated by the leadership of the unit.

This specific breakthrough, opens windows and opportunities for upcoming initiatives and activities targeting new priority populations in the hope of providing information, knowledge and services related to HIV, safe sex practices and health-seeking habits. This also clearly proves the capacities and creativity power of a community-based organization in terms of expanding and maximizing the impact of their community work with given resources.

Figure 1 & 2. The event was attended by nearly 150 young soldiers, the Brigade Leaders, Life Centre and the Gate CBO.

Figure 3. The young soldiers were excited, interactive and might need more activities like ‘In the troop backpack’ to learn more about how to better take care of themselves and serve the best to the country.

USAID/LADDERS takes collective effort to systemize community health information and data in Hanoi for a more effective HIV response in Vietnam.

USAID/LADDERS takes collective effort to systemize community health information and data in Hanoi for a more effective HIV response in Vietnam.

Hà Nội, Oct 13-14

For years, HIV outreach and testing activities have been tracked through separate health information systems, making it difficult to track individual clients across these various systems. In response, LADDERS updated its existing HIV testing and counseling health information system, based on excel templates and a mobile application, to enable community outreach workers to manage their respective data digitally and systematically. The newly branded D.Health application, used by CBOs in HCMC and Dong Nai province since 2020, is now available and accessible on both iOS and Android enabled devices. Last week, CBOs in Hanoi were introduced to the multi-purposed application in a 2-day training workshop. More than 30 lay testers were instructed through the use of the D.Health application with its features and interfaces which differ for clients, outreach workers, and CBO administrators.

Participants took the opportunity to practice with virtual accounts and get inquiries answered under mentorship and supervision of the SI team from LADDERS. Recognizing the change, moving from a paper to digital base, may seem hard at first, but with time and their familiarization this tool will prove to help optimize data collection, management, and use. CBO members who participated in the training are expected to utilize D.Health for ongoing data entry, reporting and use for their informed decision-making as well as the technical assistance to be provided by LADDERS.

With the use of D.Health among all CBOs under the LADDERS project, the goal is to streamline data collection processes and empower various HIV stakeholders to understand and respond to the changing needs of the epidemic, while managing reporting burden and facilitating its use to inform program improvements.

Figure 1. Life staff took turns to present and guide community participants through the technical use of the D.Health app.

Figure 2, 3. Through interactive games and simulation practices, community outreach workers got a better idea of how to use the app for themselves and their clients.

 

USAID/LADDERS excites young MSM for the Tet holiday celebration with SAFE AROUND U Tết campaign. 

USAID/LADDERS excites young MSM for the Tet holiday celebration with SAFE AROUND U Tết campaign. 

Tet 2023

The first “95” – identifying those with HIV – remains the most challenging to reach in Vietnam and trying to find innovative ways of tapping into key populations remains a focus in the response. LADDERS rolled out a massive campaign during the 2023 Tet holiday, utilizing the “SAFE Around U” campaign strategy to bring awareness to HIV. The online “SAFE AROUND U TẾT” campaign – Gói Tết, which commenced from Jan 15 and ran through and beyond the Tet holiday, consists of various multimedia materials communicating key messages on self-testing, self-love, PrEP, PEP, K=K [U=U], as well as promoting community-based HIV services. The recently upgraded D.Health application was also promoted as a tool during the campaign.

The media and materials were specifically targeting young men as either heart-felt short videos or propaganda posters with meaningful Tet-inspired captions were posted and shared by nearly 50 CBOs/SEs and a few popular youth-hyped fanpages and Tik Tok channels. So far, the Gói Tết campaign has been received and commented on by thousands of young people all around the country during the holiday via popular social media platforms like Facebook, Zalo and Tiktok. This activity hopes to remind and encourage MSM, particularly young MSM, to find their nearest CBO for HIV and health services including counseling, testing, self-test kits, referral and support. Potential clients that come to the site are provided with the information to link with the CBOs that may be the most convenient for them to access and utilize.

 Through this platform, and the ubiquitous use of social media among younger men, particularly MSM, messaging of the campaign to connect directly with those clients who would most benefit from the services is attained. By tailoring messaging, and not just tapping into the social media platforms, LADDERS hopes to optimize its outreach and assure better targeted support to more young MSM comfortable with testing and accessing client friendly services.

For more information about the campaign, kindly refer to this link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1z3w7HYdFLrMbHStlMKCZmnVhI_Yk6YxK

 

Figure 1. Tet-inspired short videos were well received among young people on social media with thousands of views and likes.

Figure 2. Young MSM-hyped fanpages and platforms shared “SAFE AROUND U TÊT” materials, disseminating key messages even further out to young at-risk people nationwide.

Figure 3. An interactive game was played by a number of young MSM during the Tet holiday for engagement and promising ‘lì-xì’ (lucky money) for the new year.

USAID/LADDERS rolls out the Community-Public Partnership (C2P) model in Hanoi

USAID/LADDERS rolls out the Community-Public Partnership (C2P) model in Hanoi

Hanoi – 21.12.2022

The Community-Public Partnership (C2P) model has proven to be a successful model for leveraging community resources to increase client access to care and quality of care, and USAID is committed to supporting its scale-up to more areas of Vietnam. Last week, USAID in partnership with the Hanoi Center for Disease Control (CDC) convened a C2P meeting to officially introduce the C2P model and facilitate the ‘C2P pair-up’ of a health facility and a community-based organization in Hanoi. The event was well attended by 60 participants from 6 district OPCs, 3 hospitals and 4 community clinics along with 9 CBOs under the LIFE/LADDERS project, discussing the possibility and feasibility of adopting and advancing the C2P model among health facilities and CBOs in Hanoi in the common goal of expanding HIV service delivery and optimizing client experience.

Hanoi CDC and LIFE Centre managed to engage the participants of all parties in a consensus to agree on a C2P roll-out program in Hanoi including having regular meetings to exchange data and updates, monitoring and reporting mechanisms and supplemental collaborative activities in 2023. By the end of the meeting, all health facilities have committed to initiating the strategic partnership with at least 1 CBO, opening the door for further discussion and official signing between parties under moderation and supervision of Hanoi CDC and LIFE Centre.

C2P results in improved access to HIV prevention and treatment services of populations at higher risk of living with HIV and confronting access barriers. It also enables mobilizing local resources to optimize reach and social services for clients to better identify cases in the community and facilitate linkage and maintenance to care. In addition, the model also supports optimizing opportunities and favorable conditions for CBOs’ financial sustainable development to maintain service delivery relating to HIV/STIs and other diseases. This adds tremendous values to realize USAID’s commitment to end AIDS and transition to sustainable local mechanisms/models. 

Figure 1. Dr. Lan Thi La – Vice Director of Hanoi CDC emphasized the critical role of community-based organizations as an extended hand to health facilities in HIV/AIDS response in Hanoi.

Figure 2. Hoang Mai OPC and Hoa Sen CBO shared experiences and lessons learned from their 2022 partnership, highlighting their commitment and aspiration for their C2P in 2023. 

Figure 3. Ms Lan Nguyen briefed the audience about the LIFE Centre and C2P programs/key results over the years

Figure 4. CDC Hà Nội, District OPCs, community clinics, CBOs, LIFE Centre and USAID in one frame.