Why this Project is Important

Potential Long Term Impact

Starting AIDS patients on medication will enable them to continue to contribute to their families and their communities. By creating local medical expertise, a healthcare system that will benefit patients across diseases is built from within.

Project Message

The training program taught us to no longer be afraid of our HIV-infected patients! We now have tools that we can apply to clinics, even if we may not yet have the antiretroviral medication available.
- Nguyen Van Ngoc, M.D., Vice Director, Hoa Binh Provincial Hospital

Who is Running This Project

Contact

Katie Graves-Abe,
Director of Operations
PO Box 1139
Princeton, NJ 08542
United States
+1 212 243 7234
Email:

Project Sponsor

Marketplace 2005

Organization

Learn more about International Center for Equal Healthcare Access and the project team.

Where this Project is Located

Country

This project is located in Vietnam and can also be found under Health.

For more information about Vietnam, read the Human Development Report on Vietnam or the Wikipedia entry for Vietnam.

When this Project was Updated

Last Updated

This project was last updated on October 16, 2008.

Date Added to GlobalGiving

This project was added to the GlobalGiving project catalog on January 17, 2005.

Latest Update from the Field

Saving Lives with Methadone Maintenance Therapy in Vietnam

By Katie Graves-Abe - Director of Operations, October 16, 2008 01:20 PM

The Ministry of Health in Vietnam has officially started a Methadone program for the country, which will provide Methadone Maintenance Therapy (MMT) as part of comprehensive care for drug users within the health services of six specific district locations. As part of this comprehensive treatment approach, other health services, including treatment for HIV/AIDS, will be available at these sites.

Family Health International (FHI) is one of the partner organizations contributing to the roll-out of this new program, and as part of this effort they have requested that ICEHA send clinical mentors to several of the new methadone sites as they start MMT for the first time.

Dr. Sarz Maxwell was ICEHA’s first clinical mentor to be sent to this program, and she provided hands-on coaching to local health providers at clinics in Ho Chi Minh City and Hai Phong in summer 2008.

In Dr. Maxwell’s first week in Vietnam, she commented that “upon arrival in Hai Phong, I traveled to one of the two sites where MMT is being started. There, I was honored to assist the doctor and his staff in assessing and determining an initial starting dose for the first 8 patients at this MMT clinic. Applause broke out when the first patient swallowed his first dose!”

By the end of her assignment in Vietnam, Dr. Maxwell found that “being able to assist Vietnam in the initiation of MMT has been a true pleasure and a great honor. The physicians are, for the most part, enthusiastic and motivated to make the project work. The initiation of MMT in Vietnam is worthy of great celebration. With a great deal more hard work, I truly believe that Vietnam can build a methadone treatment system that will be a model for the entire world. I am deeply grateful to ICEHA and FHI for providing me with this wonderful experience.”

For more information, read our issue of Reports from the Field highlighting this project: http://www.iceha.org/newsletter/Reports/FieldReportSummer08.pdf

Thank you again for your continuing support of ICEHA!!
Attachments:

• AIDS Prevention Poster, HCMC, Vietnam

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