According to the Department of Health of Khanh Hoa province, from 2021-2023, the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control project has supported funding to buy health insurance cards (HI) for people infected with HIV who do not have cards and supported co-payment of health insurance for ARV drugs for patients in the province.
However, from 2024, the project will not provide financial support to these subjects. Meanwhile, the cost of purchasing a health insurance card and the average cost of ARV treatment for the level 1 regimen is 5 million VND/year/person and the treatment for the level 2 regimen is 18 million VND/year/person.
People infected with HIV in Khanh Hoa are mainly vulnerable groups. If the patient does not participate in health insurance and has to pay for treatment costs himself, the patient will not be able to pay, leading to discontinuation of treatment and resistance to medication, easily leading to the risk of spreading to the community.
The development of support policies is necessary, helping patients maintain treatment and prevent infection to the community, aiming to control the HIV/AIDS epidemic and gradually move towards ending AIDS by 2030.
According to the draft Resolution, the support level is 100% of the health insurance contribution and co-payment costs for ARV drugs for people infected with HIV/AIDS, after deducting costs paid by health insurance.
The support fund comes from the budget allocated in the annual budget for the health sector according to the management decentralization. The total support budget from 2025 - 2030 is 9.946 billion VND.
Of which, the cost of supporting the purchase of health insurance cards is 5.580 billion VND, the cost of supporting costs and paying for ARV drugs with health insurance cards is more than 4.366 billion VND.
The draft resolution is expected to be considered at the Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Council meeting in March 2025.
Currently, Khanh Hoa has more than 1,500 people infected with HIV/AIDS under management. In 2024, the whole province discovered about 100 new HIV infections through testing.
