Vietnam’s minister of health has called on the Japanese government tocontinue to give priority to health cooperation in its policy onOfficial Development Assistance (ODA) for Vietnam.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien made the call at a forum tomark 40 years of bilateral cooperation between Vietnam and Japan inthe health sector on May 15 in Hanoi.

At theevent, held by the ministry in partnership with the Japanese embassy inVietnam and the Japan International Cooperation Agency, Minister Tienalso suggested that Japanese investors consider the construction ofhospitals and the production of high-quality medical equipment andpharmaceuticals in Vietnam .

She emphasised thatJapan is currently one of the largest bilateral ODA providers forVietnam in general and in the health sector in particular.Japanese-funded projects have helped improved the sector’sinfrastructure as well as its diagnosis and treatment capacity.

Tsuno Motonori – JICA Chief Representative in Vietnam – saidthat his agency hopes to maintain and further build on the fruitfulresults of bilateral cooperation in this field, adding that investmentin health care means investment for the future.

On this occasion, the health ministry presented an insignia “For People’s Health” to the JICA chief.

Bilateral cooperation in health care started with the project to buildCho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City using non-refundableaid. After Japan officially resumed ODA provision for Vietnam in1992, health care has always been a high priority in bilateral ties. Theperiod from 1993 to 2008 saw a series of large-scale non-refundable aidprojects to supply medical equipment to hospitals in Hanoi andvaccines to Vietnam’s national expanded vaccination programme. Majorhospitals nationwide including Bach Mai in Hanoi, Hue in thecentral province of Thua Thien-Hue and Cho Ray in HCM City havealso received Japanese aid to upgrade infrastructure.

In addition, JICA has paid special attention to help Vietnam inhuman resources training and producing medicine. In 2006, the Japanesegovernment helped Vietnam build a factory producing measles vaccine,the most modern facility in Southeast Asia and transferred thetechnology to make measles vaccine to Vietnam in 2009.

The two sides will begin a project on transfer technology tomanufacture measles-rubella vaccines to Vietnam at the end of thismonth, with the goal of putting made-in-Vietnam vaccine on the market by2018.

JICA has also conducted several projects inthe field involving enhancing the capacity of the laboratory system,improving rehabilitation services for people with disabilities andcaring for mother and infant health.-VNA