Since 1996, after the US lifted the embargo and normalised relations with Vietnam, many new areas of cooperation, including health, have been opened up. In the healthcare sector, the two nations have advanced cooperation in vaccine research, epidemiological studies, HIV/AIDS and other disease prevention, and medical worker training for Vietnam.
An important milestone in bilateral health cooperation was marked in 2000 when United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala paid an official visit to Vietnam. During her visit in Vietnam, she and the Vietnamese counterpart signed the Vietnam - US Joint Declaration on Health Cooperation.
Since then, Vietnam - US health cooperation has kept strengthening in many key areas, particularly HIV/AIDS prevention, preventive medicine, civil and military medical cooperation, and science and technology.
According to statistics, since the normalisation of relations in 1995, the US government has funded more than US$900 million for Vietnam's health sector, accounting for nearly 75 per cent of its overall assistance to Vietnam.
US non-governmental organisations (NGOs) also play a significant role in the two countries' medical cooperation. They financed medical infrastructure construction at Hue Central Hospital, funded the renovation, expansion and upgrading of the Central Children's Hospital, provided medical equipment and personnel training, supported vaccine production; and provided scientific evidences of disease and mortality for policymaking in Vietnam. They have also assisted community-based rehabilitation programmes.
US NGOs have also helped Vietnam strengthen the capacity of community health workers and volunteers, exchange experts, and introduce techniques and models for advanced health care.
Besides bilateral cooperation, the health sector of Vietnam is also an active partner in multilateral cooperation forums for the Lower Mekong Region initiated by the US, including Low Mekong Initiatives and Mekong Basin Disease Surveillance (MBDS).
According to Vietnamese Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien, 20 years is a long way with enormous efforts of health workers and officials of the two countries to expand and strengthen Vietnam - US cooperation, improve people’s healthcare and protection in Vietnam, combat disease outbreaks in Vietnam, in the region and the world for the sake of global health.
She expressed her hopes that Vietnam - US health cooperation will continue to grow both in width and depth to produce more practical and effective human healthcare in Vietnam, in the region and in the world in the next 20 years and beyond to contribute to building friendly cooperation relations between the Governments and the peoples of the two countries.
Not only that, in the past 20 years, Vietnam and the US have expanded cooperation into many other areas such as tuberculosis and malaria prevention, harmful tobacco effect prevention, food safety, disability support, and infectious disease prevention.
Speaking at the ceremony to the 20th anniversary of US - Vietnam health cooperation and normalised bilateral relations held in October 2015, US Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius said, “We have achieved so much together in only 20 years. I do not think that there are two other countries than us that make greater effort and work together to bring a bright future for the people.” He stressed, “The US has helped the health sector of Vietnam to grow stronger and bring rays of hope for most vulnerable communities and evidenced that people with HIV/AIDS disease can lead a happy life. The US has initiated health cooperation with Vietnam even before the normalisation time 1995."
Ambassador Ted Osius also remarked on the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Programme in Vietnam. This has been the largest contributor of Vietnam’s HIV response. This year also marks a key PEPFAR milestone with over 100,000 people in Vietnam on antiretroviral (ARV) treatment and over 40,000 people on methadone maintenance treatment. The US government is also the largest bilateral supporter of influenza prevention and control in Vietnam and supports other areas, including tuberculosis, malaria, tobacco control, road safety, food safety, disabilities, disaster preparedness, coastal medicine, and infectious disease prevention and control.
Looking forward to the future, the US and Vietnam have established a growing partnership under the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) to better prevent, detect, and respond to disease outbreaks. The two sides agree to address issues of global health importance together not only benefits both countries, but also the region and world at large.
Quynh Anh
Vietnamese
