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Daniel Levitt, MPH '00: Tackling the Challenges of HIV/AIDS One Country at A Time
With incessant horn honking in the background, it is easy to understand what Daniel Levitt means when he discusses the frenetic pace of Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. Residing and working there since 2002, Levitt observes firsthand how life and rapidly changing times in Vietnam are reflected in a dynamic and complicated work environment. During his tenure at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Vietnam, Levitt likened working on the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to "running a marathon at a sprinters pace" in a results-driven atmosphere where decisions must be made quickly and with little certainty. As a graduate of the Mailman School (MPH '00), he attributes his skills in designing and managing international public health programs to the caliber of his Mailman School training. "It provided a strong foundation for the work that would follow," says Levitt.
Since beginning his career in public health in his late teens, Levitt has worked extensively with local and international organizations, governments, private foundations, and multilateral agencies, including the Pan American Health Organization, the Center for Population and Family Health in New York, the United States Agency for International Development, and the United Nations. He has received accolades and awards from his employers and from host governments, and published articles on topics ranging from asthma to disaster relief. Today, Levitt has a combined experience of 12 years working in public health program design, implementation and evaluation, with the bulk of his practice in strategic planning and program management.
With a current focus on HIV and sexual and reproductive health in developing countries, Levitt draws on experiences from around the globe. His international repertoire includes work in Burma, Cambodia, China, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, the United States, and Vietnam. An interest in foreign languages and communicating in local dialects has helped Levitt navigate cultural differences and challenges, especially those between the east and west. As a result, Levitt is fluent in Spanish, conversational in Khmer and Vietnamese, and, when required, can throw some German into the mix.
The noisy streets of Hanoi are an indication of Vietnam's rapid development-just 15 years ago the capital city was merely dotted with motor vehicles. Unfortunately, this development has been coupled with a concomitant heroin epidemic, which has, for the most part, fueled Vietnam's complicated HIV epidemic. Levitt notes that in the early 1990s, HIV was nearly unheard of in Vietnam. "Today, the link between HIV transmission and injection drug use is well documented; however, Vietnam is also seeing increasing sexual transmission as the interaction between sex work and drug use bridges individuals with different high-risk behaviors and the general population." While overall HIV prevalence is reported at just over 0.5% of the general population, reported prevalence has exceeded 70% amongst drug users in certain provinces in Vietnam.
Until April of this year, Levitt was the program manager for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the Health Office at USAID in Vietnam (the only PEPFAR focus country in Asia), where he oversaw an annual budget of over $40 million, the largest of any financial contributions for HIV prevention, care, and treatment in Vietnam. Representing USAID on all health and HIV-related issues, and managing the agency's HIV and health-related assistance, Levitt established a track record in program management and public diplomacy working with a variety of governments, multilateral agencies, and international and local organizations. In perhaps his most challenging post, Levitt had to think creatively with his team to develop programs that were targeted, met the needs of beneficiaries, produced rapid and measurable results, and also satisfied stringent policy requirements to receive U.S. Government funds.
His work at USAID posed numerous management challenges as well, especially with respect to the financial and program growth marshaled by the PEPFAR program. To make room for a swift and large increase in staff with Vietnam's designation as a PEPFAR focus country, Levitt set in motion a plan to divide the then USAID Health and Humanitarian program into two separate portfolios-one for HIV and Health and one for Humanitarian Assistance-with distinct management for both. During his tenure, Levitt hired eight additional staff and broadened partnerships from three grant recipients in 2002 to 35 in 2007, including UN, local government, and non-government organizations. He also oversaw a tenfold increase in USAID's PEPFAR budget-from $3.5 million in 2002 to over $40 million by the time he completed his contract. Today, PEPFAR's annual contribution to Vietnam is more than $65 million.
Levitt's relationship with a country that offers measured servings of challenge and reward has kept him tethered to Hanoi, even after resigning from USAID. This past June, he accepted a short-term assignment with the Vietnam Ministry of Labor and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) as the lead author of Vietnam's submission for Round 7 funding from the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Shortly after, he served as the Institutional and Management Specialist on the design team for the Australian Agency for International Development's eight-year HIV assistance program for Vietnam.
At present, Levitt is a consultant with the Health Policy Initiative (HPI), coordinating the second phase of a multinational collaboration under the jurisdiction of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). He is leading the review and documentation of best practices on stigma and discrimination reduction in HIV and AIDS clinical care and treatment in select sites in Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Based on lessons learned, his team will develop a multi-media stigma reduction tool highlighting best practices, and targeting medical and non-medical clinic staff. This tool will be designed to support HIV treatment sites to implement policies and practices which have proven effective in reducing HIV-related stigma and discrimination.
When asked if he has plans to return to the West anytime soon, Levitt chuckles. "Perhaps to pursue a career in acting-what else could bring me back to my beloved New York City?" As vice chair of and regular actor with the Hanoi International Theater Society, an organization that produces two to three full-scale international theater productions annually, this may indeed be an alternative career path for Levitt. Until then, sadly, there is much to be done in the realm of HIV and health worldwide. These and related issues are keeping alums like Levitt on the frontline.
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