by Gus Cairns

A PrEP programme in Vietnam set up for transgender women, and run largely by them, has seen the number of women enrolled in the programme increase from three in the second quarter of 2017 to 409 in the second quarter of 2020. Retention in the programme, which was lagging behind a similar programme for gay and bisexual men until last year, has now exceeded that in the gay men’s programme, with 98% of clients returning for their quarterly PrEP refills.

Dr Kimberly Green of the HIV and TB programme of the global public health NGO PATH (funded for this programme by the US international development agency USAID) presented the findings to the 23rd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2020: Virtual) earlier this month.

The burden of HIV in Vietnam is concentrated rather than generalised, but is unusually evenly spread among the key affected populations – gay and bisexual men, transgender women, people who inject drugs, and female sex workers. HIV prevalence in transgender women is 18%. Modelling in 2013-14 showed that targeting HIV prevention at certain key groups could drastically cut HIV transmission generally. Read more via AIDSmap

Green K et al. Trans-forming PrEP in Vietnam: rethinking service delivery to enhance access among transgender women. 23rd International AIDS Conference, abstract OAD0603, 2020.