Can Tho City leader delivers presentation on HIV/AIDS at ASEAN Cities Getting to Zeros Satellite Meeting.

On the afternoon of the 21^st of October, 2021, Deputy Chairman of Can Tho City People's Committee Mr. Duong Tan Hien attended an online meeting with other ASEAN partners at the 2021 Fast-Track Cities Conference held in hybrid format in Lisbon, Portugal. Deputy Chairman Duong Tan Hien delivered his presentation on Can Tho's community-based services during COVID-19 pandemic during the ASEAN Cities Getting to Zeros Satellite Meeting.

The Fast-Track Cities conference is organized by the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC), in collaboration with the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia, Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the Fast-Track Cities Institute, and other partners. The conference's aim is to highlight successes achieved across the Fast-Track Cities network, address cross-cutting challenges faced by local stakeholders, and share best practices in accelerating urban HIV, TB, HBV, and HCV responses. In addition, the conference organizers have included COVID-19 among the conference program foci.

The Fast-Track Cities approach can be particularly effective because local governments have an understanding of the local issues. As the Fast-Track Cities network continues to grow in ASEAN region and the complexity of the HIV problem in urban areas is better understood, cities can lead the way in this era of increasing urbanization.

Besides Can Tho, other partner cities presenting at the Satellite Meeting are Central Jakarta (Indonesia), Pasig (the Philippines), Bangkok (Thailand), and Langkawi (Malaysia). Presenters share their cities' experience in good practices and new initiatives on HIV/AIDS during the COVID-19 pandemic, elimination of mother to child transmission, innovating 90-90-90 programming during COVID-19 pandemic, and getting to zero discrimination.

In Can Tho City, as of 30 September 2021, there are 6,803 people living with HIV. The city launched its community-based rapid testing program in February 2017 in 3 groups: people who inject drugs, commercial sex workers, and MSM. Besides, the city has provided trainings and capacity building for non-specialist testing staff, outreach staff, and community organizations. In November 2020, Can Tho piloted the free distribution of saliva rapid self-test kits (Ora-Quick) through the self-testing website. This is the most convenient community testing channel, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the effectiveness of the community-based self-testing program, Deputy Chairman Duong committed that Can Tho would continue to maintain its intervention programs, especially community-based HIV self-testing, and strive for the grand goal of HIV/AIDS national prevention program to end the AIDS epidemic in 2030.

In ASEAN region, there are 10 cities participating in "ASEAN Cities Getting to Zero" (zero new infected case, zero death from AIDS, and zero stigma and discrimination to HIV/AIDS). Only two cities in Vietnam (Can Tho and Da Nang) are members of this program.

Deputy Chairman Duong Tan Hien delivers his presentation at the online meeting. Photo: H.HOA

Overview of the online meeting. Photo: H.HOA