The Health Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) was inaugurated at aceremony on February 3 at the Ministry of Health’s General Department ofPreventive Medicine, attended by Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tienand American Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius.

Speaking at theevent, Minister Tien said that Vietnam remains vulnerable to a number ofdiseases, including emerging dangerous epidemics adversely affectingthe people’s health, adding that the establishment of EOC representsVietnam’s commitment to joining the Global Health Security Agenda.

Shehighlighted that EOC will help connect the ministry to other relevantdomestic and international agencies in response to public healthemergencies.

For his part, Ambassador Ted Osius said thatVietnam’s EOC is an example of 20 years of collaboration between the USand Vietnamese governments to build a foundation for the ComprehensivePartnership and recent Global Health Security Agenda.

EOC willreceive, analyse, and share information on disease outbreaks fromministries and other organisations to limit the severity of any possibleepidemics. In addition, the centre will set up, plan, and coordinateactivities among its subcommittees.

After the inaugurationceremony, EOC held an online meeting on preventing the transmission ofavian influenza from birds to humans with four institutes of hygiene andepidemiology. -VNA