Health Ministry, AstraZeneca Vietnam cooperate in building sustainable health system

Hanoi, March 9 (VNA) – The Vietnamese Ministry of Health and AstraZeneca Vietnam has signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation under which they will work with partners to promote existing and new programmes to improve public awareness of diseases, prevention, and early detection. In particular, they will cooperate in such programmes as “For healthy lungs”, which aims to improve the diagnosis, treatment, and management of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer; a programme helping the youth adopt a healthy lifestyle to prevent non-communicable diseases; CareMe, which aims to consolidate the system caring for cardiovascular, kidney, and metabolic diseases; the second phase of a cooperation programme for the sustainability and resilience of Vietnam’s health system; and another on strengthening the capacity of the clinical research and testing system in the country. At the signing ceremony in Hanoi, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Lien Huong said surmounting different waves of COVID-19 infections, Vietnam’s health system has proved its responsiveness and resilience to contain and safely and flexibly adapt to the pandemic. However, the system has been heavily affected by the pandemic as well as lingering challenges such as the burden of non-communicable diseases, population aging, the limited capacity of grassroots healthcare establishments, and the shortage of medical workers. To achieve universal health coverage as part of the Sustainable Development Goals, Vietnam's health system needs to be reinforced comprehensively with better capacity and efficiency towards an equal, efficient, quality, and sustainable system that meets all people’s healthcare demand, she went on. Appreciating AstraZeneca’s assistance for Vietnam’s health sector, especially in the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccine strategy, Huong described the MoU signing as an important landmark in bilateral cooperation and expressed her hope that the relevant parties will work together effectively to obtain the set targets. Leon Wang, AstraZeneca Executive Vice President for International Markets, said the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change has shown the importance of protecting and building a sustainable and resilient health system, which is a common target requiring public - private partnerships along with inter-sectoral and multinational coordination./.