PRESS RELEASE

August 10, 2009

The United States Supports Vietnam Military Medical System in Blood Safety

The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is sponsoring a Blood Safety Workshop in Can Tho this week to strengthen the capacity of laboratory officers and technicians currently working at different military hospitals across Vietnam.  In the three-day workshop, participants are being trained in best practices in international and national standards of blood safety by technical experts from US Pacific Command (PACOM), U.S. Armed Forces Research Institute of Medicine Sciences (AFRIMS) and leading military hospitals in Vietnam. 

This blood safety program is being conducted by the U.S. Department of Defense and the Military Medicine Department of the Vietnamese Ministry of Defense at four blood transfusion centers in the military medical system.  PEPFAR has supported these centers since 2004 with the upgrading of infrastructure, procurement of new equipment, training of personnel on national blood safety regulation, blood screening, HIV testing and counseling, and routine quality assurance and quality control. The four centers provide safe blood not only for treating military personnel but also for civilian emergency needs. The program overall objective is to collect, screen, and provide safe blood to meet the needs in the region, both military and civilian communities.

Since 2004, the United States Government has provided more than $320 million to comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention, care, treatment, and support activities in Vietnam.