USAID/Vietnam

USAID Vietnam Program
(Updated: December 8, 2008)

USAID/Vietnam provides support in the areas of economic growth, health and HIV/AIDS, disability, environment and disaster mitigation including the emerging avian influenza pandemic. The program has increased dramatically, from $6.1 million in FY2002 to over $70 million for FY2008, including approximately $48 million for HIV/AIDS under the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Through its activities since 2000, USAID has provided over $200 million dollars in assistance to Vietnam.

• Economic Growth

USAID supports Vietnam's ongoing and accelerating transformation from a state planned economy to a market economy, rule of law, and global integration.  This historic bilateral collaboration has grown into a partnership of U.S. experts and Vietnamese legal, economic, trade, governance, regulatory, and capital market counterparts who work closely with leadership in the Vietnamese public and private sectors, the National Assembly, and the judiciary. 

Assistance under the USAID-funded STAR and VNCI projects focuses on comprehensive transformation of the legal and economic governance systems: strengthening the policy and legal frameworks as the cornerstones of long-term economic and financial sector development, private sector and business competitiveness, and cross-cutting governance -- thus enhancing the the Government of Vietnam’s implementation of Vietnam's Bilateral Trade Agreement and World Trade Organization commitments.  USAID assistance is helping drive regulatory reform and mitigate the negative effects of trade liberalization on the poor.  These programs strengthen the rule of law and empowerment of Vietnam's business sector enabling environment and economic leadership at national and local levels -- which in turn increase the capacities for trade and investment, including expansion of private sector-driven economic flows between the United States and Vietnam.

USAID also supports Vietnam's economic reform and progress in agribusiness development and export competitiveness through a public/private partnership to develop Vietnam's high value cocoa industry; capital market development and regulation; development of Vietnam/ASEAN competition policy, business regulation, and consumer protection, and use of cutting-edge ICT technologies (wireless, broad band, internet,  mobile, and satellite for rural development to narrow the urban/rural digital divide and to connect the 50 million rural population to the worldwide knowledge network -- in public/private partnerships with leading global technology companies.

• HIV/AIDS

USAID began supporting HIV/AIDS programs in Vietnam during the mid-1990s.  In June 2004, Vietnam became the 15th focus country under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).  Since then USAID support for HIV/AIDS programs has become an integral part of the PEPFAR Vietnam program planned and implemented by four U.S. government agencies: USAID, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and the Department of Defense (DOD).  In coordination with the other U.S. agencies, USAID supports comprehensive HIV interventions to prevent HIV transmission among most at risk populations including injecting drug users, commercial sex workers, and men who have sex with men.  Clinical and home based care and treatment initiatives allow partners to extend lives, improve health and increase quality of life for those infected and affected by HIV, including orphans and vulnerable children.  USAID implements its HIV/AIDS program through six primary and 28 sub-partners.

Based on epidemiology and collaboration with the host government, USAID HIV efforts are currently directed in seven provinces: Hanoi, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh in the North; Nghe An in the Central region; and Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho and An Giang in the South and will expand in 2009 to the northwest provinces of Dien Bien and Lao Cai.  In FY 2008, USAID assistance was $48 million of the total $88 million PEPFAR Vietnam budget, or 54% of the total PEPFAR budget.  As of March 31, 2008, PEPFAR supported life-saving antiretroviral treatment for 11,809 people, and provided care to 3,976 orphans and vulnerable children last year alone.  USAID’s HIV/AIDS programs reach more than 43,000 people affected by the virus.  In May 2008, after two years of planning, Vietnam launched six pilot methadone clinics in Hai Phong and Ho Chi Minh City, funded primarily by USAID, to combat heroin addiction.  Vietnam is the only country employing PEPFAR funds to support medication assisted therapy.

• Avian Influenza (AI)

Starting in 2005, USAID provided funds in support of Vietnam's successful fight against avian influenza (AI) which was threatening a few years ago to reach epidemic proportions.  As one of the largest donors, USAID has contributed approximately $27 million since 2005 ($10.5 million in FY 2008), of which about 50% of USAID funding contributes to programs managed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO).  The program supports prevention, containment and preparedness measures as well as communication activities and capacity strengthening for the Government of Vietnam Ministries of Health and Agriculture and Rural Development.  USAID, together with FAO and WHO, has helped Vietnam develop and revise national plans to control and limit the risk of H5N1 outbreaks, strengthen monitoring of the AI virus in bird populations, and enhance pandemic preparedness and planning for AI.  USAID is working with the business community to increase the resources, expertise and financing to fight the spread of bird flu.  In addition to funding technical assistance, USAID provided over 24,700 sets of personal protective equipment and 100 decontamination kits for rapid deployment valued appropriately at $230,000. 

• Vulnerable Population Assistance

USAID’s development assistance program to vulnerable groups focuses on persons with disabilities, the disadvantaged and ethnic minority population in the Central Highlands and anti-trafficking of persons.  Since 1989, USAID has provided $46 million to help disabled people, war victims, displaced children and orphans.  Initially focused on providing prosthetic devices and rehabilitation for amputees, USAID’s activities expanded in recent years to include the development of broader enabling legislation and national policies, providing on-the-job skills training, and assistance in social integration for the disabled.  The program aims to provide millions of persons with disabilities the chance to influence the formulation of public policies that affect their lives, more inclusive educational programs, greater and more meaningful employment opportunities, and barrier-free access throughout the country.

In the Central Highlands, USAID continues to support efforts to improve the lives and well-being of socially and economically marginalized populations through improved access to quality education, including school construction, and agricultural services, on-the job training, and small-scale, income-generation activities.

Another USAID focus area is countering transnational crime through increased public awareness, provision of scholarships to young female students, and efforts to integrate victims of human trafficking into society by providing vocational training matched to job opportunities as well as health services for young women returnees who were illicitly recruited into the commercial sex trade.

• Humanitarian Assistance

USAID assists Vietnamese families affected by drought and recurrent floods, reduces vulnerability of urban communities through better disaster preparedness and mitigation, and uses information technologies to improve disaster monitoring and management capacities.