Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The Vietnamese Ministry of Health hopes the USCentres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will continue to assist Vietnamin the prevention of dangerous diseases such as influenza, COVID-19, zoonoticdiseases and HIV/AIDS.

The proposal was made by the Acting Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan on September6 afternoon during a working session with Eric Dziuban, Vietnam CountryDirector of US CDC.

Lan emphasised that in the past, the US Government, the US Department of Healthand the US CDC supported the Vietnamese Government and people with medicalequipment and vaccines against COVID-19.

Health cooperation between the two countries has developed well over the past25 years and the partnership with the US CDC is extremely important, she said.

The health cooperation focuses on various important fields such as infectiousdisease and HIV/AIDS prevention, nosocomial infection control, antibiotic resistanceand strengthening laboratory testing capacity.

The US CDC has been supporting Vietnam in the global health security programme,field epidemiology training programme, and the establishment and operation ofthe Public Health Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) at the Ministry of Healthand at four regional institutes, she said.

US CDC’s support projects and technical assistance have enhanced the efficiencyof Vietnam’s disease prevention and surveillance, especially COVID-19, HIV/AIDSprevention, tuberculosis control, antibiotic resistance and global healthsecurity, Lan said.

During the working session, Eric Dziuban highlighted Vietnam’s achievements inthe fight against COVID-19.

In the context that public health landscape is constantly changing, we need tocontinue our work to ensure Vietnam is prepared with the best possiblefoundation. The US CDC is committed to further fostering health cooperationwith Vietnam and realising the common goal which is to strengthen domestichealthcare systems, he said.

The US CDC has provided technical support for Vietnam in the surveillance,diagnosis and treatment of monkeypox as a globally emerging disease, he said.

Since early June 2022, when monkeypox began to spread globally and continued tobe declared a global public health emergency by the World Health Organization,the US CDC has worked closely with the Vietnamese Ministry of Health to ensure Vietnam’sreadiness in response to this disease.

The US CDC is also providing technical assistance in Vietnam’s national CDCdevelopment plans to further strengthen the country’s healthcare systemcapacity./.