HIV point of care diagnosis: preventing misdiagnosis experience from a pilot of rapid test algorithm implementation in selected communes in Vietnam.

Introduction: In Vietnam, HIV testing services had been available only at provincial and district health facilities, but not at the primary health facilities. Consequently, access to HIV testing services had been limited especially in rural areas. In 2012, Vietnam piloted decentralization and integration of HIV services at commune health stations (CHSs).

Evaluation of Two Techniques for Viral Load Monitoring Using Dried Blood Spot in Routine Practice in Vietnam (French National Agency for AIDS and Hepatitis Research 12338).

 Although it is the best method to detect early therapeutic failure, viral load (VL) monitoring is still not widely available in many resource-limited settings because of difficulties in specimen transfer, personnel shortage, and insufficient laboratory infrastructures. Dried blood spot (DBS) use, which was introduced in the latest World Health Organization recommendations, can overcome these difficulties. This evaluation aimed at validating VL measurement in DBS, in a laboratory without previous DBS experience and in routine testing conditions.

Factors associated with HIV viral load suppression on antiretroviral therapy in Vietnam.

Background: Limited data are available on HIV viral suppression rates among men and women on antiretroviral therapy (ART) and factors associated with HIV RNA viral load (VL) suppression in Vietnam.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 1255 adult patients on ART for at least 1 year across four provinces in Vietnam. Data collection included a standardised questionnaire, routine laboratory testing, and an HIV VL assay.

Challenges and potential barriers to the uptake of antiretroviral-based prevention in Asia and the Pacific region.

Evidence has emerged over the past few years on the effectiveness of antiretroviral-based prevention technologies to prevent (i) HIV transmission while decreasing morbidity and mortality in HIV-infected persons, and (ii) HIV acquisition in HIV-uninfected individuals through pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Only few of the planned studies on treatment as prevention (TasP) are conducted in Asia. TasP might be more feasible and effective in concentrated rather than in generalised epidemics, as resources for HIV testing and antiretroviral treatment could focus on confined and much smaller populations than in the generalised epidemics observed in sub-Saharan Africa.

A new analytical framework of 'continuum of prevention and care' to maximize HIV case detection and retention in care in Vietnam.

Background: The global initiative 'Treatment 2.0' calls for expanding the evidence base of optimal HIV service delivery models to maximize HIV case detection and retention in care. However limited systematic assessment has been conducted in countries with concentrated HIV epidemic.

Combining cohort analysis and monitoring of HIV early-warning indicators of drug resistance to assess antiretroviral therapy services in Vietnam.

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) retention and 5 early-warning indicators (EWIs) of HIV drug resistance (HIVDR) were abstracted at 27 adult and 4 pediatric clinics in Vietnam in 2009. Of 4531 adults and 313 children, 81.2% and 84.