WHO assesses that Vietnam is moving further in the roadmap for nationwide health care.

“Vietnam has achieved many achievements in improving people's lives and improving healthcare quality in recent decades. Average life expectancy has increased by 15 years, with a significant decline in vaccine-preventable diseases. Vietnam has expanded health insurance coverage, moving the country further toward the goal of achieving universal health care," Tedros said.

Poverty eradication, social security, and better medical care for people are Vietnam's efforts to better ensure human rights.

Average life expectancy of Vietnamese people increased by 15 years

Vietnam is considered one of the fastest-growing countries in the world in terms of the Human Development Index (HDI).

In just a decade, Vietnam's human development index has increased by 46%, among the countries with the highest growth rate in the world.

According to UNDP's latest Human Development Report, Vietnam's HDI ranking continues to increase from 115 to 107. Vietnam is ranked in the group with a high human development index.

Thanks to great successes in family planning, the birth rate in Vietnam has decreased from 6.4 children/woman to 2.09 in 2006 and continues to be maintained today. Vietnam is also among six countries in the world to achieve Millennium Development Goal 5 on promoting gender equality and empowering all women and girls within the United Nations sustainable development goals.

According to Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, unlike most developing countries, Vietnam has managed to maintain economic growth during the most difficult years of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Vietnam has gained many achievements in improving people's lives and healthcare quality in recent decades. Average life expectancy has increased by 15 years, with a significant decline in vaccine-preventable diseases. Vietnam has expanded health insurance coverage, moving the country further toward the goal of achieving nationwide health care," Tedros said.

According to data from the General Statistics Office, in 2023, the average life expectancy of Vietnamese people is 73.7 years old (in 2022 is 73.6 years old), of which men are 71.1 years old and women are 76.5 years old.

The death rate remains low, average life expectancy increases due to the achievements of medical development and improved health care.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha received Saia Ma'u Piukala, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific. Photo: VOV

Ensuring people's right to public health care

The right to public health care is always considered by Vietnam to be one of the important human rights, and is the basis for exercising many other human rights. The exercise of the right to public health care is also associated with other human rights such as the right to life, the right to food, housing, employment, education, protection of privacy, and access to information.

The Vietnamese government always promotes the implementation of social security policies and expands the number of beneficiaries of social benefits.

Social assistance programs, projects, and policies continue to be implemented effectively, especially policies to support and care for the lives of the elderly, people with disabilities, and children in special circumstances.

The number of people participating in health insurance in 2020 reached 88.04 million people, accounting for 90.85% of the population. In 2021, the number of people participating in health insurance is 88.837 million people, reaching 91.01% of the population, exceeding the target assigned in Resolution 01/NQ-CP dated January 1, 2019, of the Government.

Healthcare services were also restored quickly. The preventive health system is strengthened towards self-reliance and adaptation. By the end of 2023, health insurance coverage reached about 94% of the Vietnamese population. The social security system and social policies have proven superior in supporting workers facing difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

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