The Ambassadors/Heads of Agency Informal HIV Coordination Group wrote to Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc to convey their fears concerning Viet Nam's fight against HIV.

We, the co-chairs, are writing on behalf of the Ambassadors/Heads of Agency Informal HIV Coordination Group in regards to the Socio-Economic Development Plan (SEDP) 2011-2015. We commend the MPI in its leadership role to ensure that the Vietnamese Government has a national long-term plan for reaching development goals that are in line with regional and global commitments, such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, we are concerned that the achievement of MDG 6 related to HIV is in doubt.

As we know from experience in our countries, when establishing growth and progress indicators, it is difficult to know which issues to prioritise as all seem to be equally important. Viet Nam has done very well so far in evaluating its past performance against SEDP and establishing targets to ensure macro-economic stability for the future.

We feel, however, there is currently an imbalance between the social and economic targets in the current draft. Viet Nam needs to ensure that the benefits of economic growth are for all people in Viet Nam to improve the achievements of health, education and other human development outcomes.

In particular, we would like to emphasise that HIV is a fundamental poverty issue that is rooted in and increases social and economic inequality. Viet Nam should include HIV in its development planning because preventing HIV from spreading will greatly decrease future Government health and social expenditures.

In addition, supporting people living with and affected by HIV will greatly strengthen community networks, social cohesion, gender equality, and the empowerment of vulnerable groups. We feel that Viet Nam will not meet its social development and economic growth ambitions and its national and international HIV-related commitments unless greater efforts are made now to respond to HIV in a systematic and multi-sectoral manner.

Therefore, as partners in development and HIV [fighting], we encourage the meaningful inclusion of HIV in the SEDP for 2011-2015. The political support shown in the past and the substantial efforts made by the Government of Viet Nam have resulted in progress in the response to the epidemic such as Law on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control and scale up of treatment and prevention programmes, including harm reduction activities.

The engagement of all sectors such as education, health, social affairs, security, migration, and labour is critical to ensure the success of the necessary multi-sectoral response.

Significantly strengthening local and national level co-ordination is also essential to an effective and sustainable response to HIV.

Sustainability is another key issue that needs to be addressed in the SEDP for development programmes in general and to maintain the progress made in HIV, where there is a high dependence on overseas development assistance.

As Viet Nam reaches middle-income country status, support from development partners will reduce and will require increased investment by the Government to focus resources where they will be most effective. The SEDP should call for a substantive increase of national and provincial funding for HIV in the next period and for the integration of HIV services into existing service delivery systems, plans, and budgets. — VNS