General Information
Donor(s): TB Alliance
Period: 2023 - 2024
Location: Dak Lak, Gia Lai, Dak Nong, Binh Phuoc, Hai Phong, Hai Duong, Nghe An, Thai Binh
Implementer: Health and Social Protection Program
Not only focusing on TB screening to find active and latent TB in high-risk communities, SCDI also works with provincial TB control steering committees to mobilize and coordinate stakeholders to enhance TB response, ensuring the goal of ending TB through the participation of TB-infected community and the Community System to End TB (CSET) while protecting rights and gender equality.
For the provincial TB control steering committees, the HE 19 project promotes the activities and coordination of the committees by supporting annual review and planning meetings with the participation of provincial departments and sectors. The project focuses on communication activities to raise awareness and concern about Community, Rights and Gender in TB prevention. This is accomplished through press field trips in collaboration with journalists, who produce articles for central and provincial newspapers. In 2023, three press field trips resulted in 14 articles highlighting the barriers faced by TB-affected communities during TB diagnosis and treatment. The articles were published in prominent and reputable newspapers in Vietnam.
For the TB-affected community and the CSET network, the project focuses on:
- Awareness-raising activities including 14 discussions on Community, Rights, and Gender and capacity-building classes for 150 CSET on crucial skills such as medical insurance procedures, communication, monitoring, and feedback with the TB prevention steering committee and policymakers.
Opportunities for raising community voices:
- Organized Community Consultations with Vietnam Country Coordinating Mechanisms for the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (CCM) to identify priority issues for those affected by TB during the proposal development phase for the following Global Fund grant. The consultation included 19 community representatives from SCDI project provinces, CCM Vietnam, the National TB Program, and WHO Vietnam representatives.
- Held a discussion for the 19 TB-affected community representatives with the Global Fund Board, allowing them to share local TB contexts and their work supporting others in similar situations.
- CSET participated in three field journalism trips to Dak Lak, Gia Lai, and Nghe An provinces to reflect real local challenges and CSET’s efforts to improve healthcare access for TB-affected communities.
Community, Rights, and Gender activities and community-led monitoring:
- Conducted three rounds of interviews with TB patients and affected communities to identify barriers to TB care, stigma, and discrimination, interviewing nearly 100 people in SCDI project provinces.
- Implemented a community-led monitoring model in Krong Pa and Ia Pa districts of Gia Lai province. After training, CSET held 100 communication sessions and gathered information from TB-affected communities. The challenges and barriers identified were reported in meetings at district and provincial levels. The model involved 45 CSET members, 23 healthcare workers, and included a provincial review meeting with the Director of Gia Lai TB and Lung Hospital and the district authorities.
Through the Community, Rights, and Gender approach, the project strives for community participation and voices to serve as a catalyst, prompting provincial TB control steering committees to enhance TB response, particularly for high-risk communities that face significant challenges in prevention and treatment access.
2023 Key results
In 2023, the project conducted 14 discussions on Community, Rights, and Gender and capacity-building classes for 150 CSET. 100 communication sessions and gathered information from TB-affected communities held by CSET.
Focal Person
(Ms.) Nguyen Thi Kim Dung - Health and Social Protection Program Manager
