Rachel Forse is the Program Director at Friends for International TB Relief (FIT), Viet Nam, where she oversees the implementation of programs and research related to social protection, improving access to UHC and mitigating catastrophic costs from TB. She has been coordinating TB programs since 2012 and has previously worked and lived in Pakistan and South Africa. She is an affiliated researcher at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.
These findings highlight a high variability of support available for people with TB throughout the country, and show that access to social protection is highly fragmented, with several packages for the same kind of support being offered within provinces. These findings also indicated that funding for the support of people with TB is still not very decentralized and is still dependent on external aid. This work is essential for shaping global frameworks to ensure comprehensive support for TB patients, aligning with commitments made at the 2023 UN High-Level Meeting on TB. Addressing these challenges is critical for Viet Nam's health system transition and for meeting global TB care goals.
Source: Conference 2024