First Multi-Country Learning Network Meeting
Meeting Objectives
The first multi-country exchange meeting of the Southeast Asia Stigma Reduction QI Learning Network was
convened virtually on January 17, 2018, with representatives from National and Provincial Ministries of
Health, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) country offices, civil society organizations,
and local implementing partners in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Vietnam. The objectives of the
meeting were to:
- Orient participants to the progress of the multi-country initiative to date.
- Present participant country teams’ progress in implementation of national- and facility-level S + D QI activities.
- Present next steps of implementation and share past successes and ongoing challenges.
Meeting Themes/Highlights
- Dr. Bruce Agins of UCSF-HEALTHQUAL provided an overview presentation in which he highlighted the uniqueness of the initiative. In particular, Dr. Agins underscored that little systematic work to date has been undertaken to apply the principles of QI to the reduction of HIV-related S + D, despite the existence of validated measurement tools.
- Presentations from Ministries of Health in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Vietnam summarized current and past activities to address HIV-related S + D in the healthcare setting, including national non-discrimination policies and standard operating procedures that have been adopted.
- Country presentations also described their plans for integration of S + D reduction activities into existing programming to improve the quality of HIV services.
