National Consultant for Revision of Technical Content for the Website on HIV Self-testing Distribution

HIV self-testing (HIVST) has been recommended by WHO since 2016 to facilitate access to HIV testing especially for key populations who may hesitate to access facility-based testing due to being fear of stigma discrimination, confidentiality issue or inconvenience. Viet Nam introduced HIVST since 2017 starting with pilot project in selected provinces including Can Tho, Thai Nguyen supported by WHO and Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh city (HCMC) supported by USAID.  The results from pilot supported MOH in development of the national guidelines on community-based HIV testing including HIVST which was approved by MOH in 2018. Up to date, community distribution model is used to distribute HIVST. This model requires peer educators to handling HIVST kits to clients at the testing sites or at their house. While this approach can optimize follow-up client after testing and link them to prevention and/or care facilities, it can reach limited number of key populations due to constraint of human resources and could not reach key populations that may not willing to meet face to face with peer educators. To address this gap, a web-based application was developed to support distribution of HIVST kits. This distribution approach will be piloted in in Can Tho where community-based HIVST distribution is implemented. The objectives of this pilot is to assess the uptake of HIVST through online distribution and willingness to report the results from clients and success of linkage to PrEP for HIV negative clients and to care and treatment for HIV positive clients. The potential consultant is requested to develop/revise technical contents for the website to ensure the information provided in the website is accurate, updated and informative to the key populations.

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