Vietnam and France signed many cooperation agreements in health during a working visit to France by Vietnamese Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien from June 13^th-17^th at the invitation of French Minister of Solidarities and Health Agnès Buzyn.

Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien (R) and French Minister of Solidarities and Health Agnès Buzyn sign letter of intent on cooperation between the two ministries. (Source: VNA)

The visit aimed to concretise important agreements reached between the two countries during the official visit to France by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong in March 2018, which are hoped to turn health cooperation into a key pillar of the Strategic Partnership between the two nations.

The visit took place in the context that the two sides are celebrating the 25years of signing the Government agreement on health cooperation and the 45^th anniversary of diplomatic ties.

During their talks on June 14^th, the two ministers applauded fruitful cooperation in health between the two countries over the last 25 years, especially France’s help in training over 3,000 Vietnamese doctors in France and 1,500 postgraduate doctors in Vietnam.

Preventive medicine and public health are also the outstanding cooperation fields between the two sides with exchange programmes of Vietnam’s Pasteur institutes and those of France in preventing infectious diseases such as SARS, H5N1, H1N1, measles, dengue and hand-foot and mouth disease.

The officials discussed prospects for bilateral health cooperation in the coming time.

They also focused on experience sharing in the field as Vietnam is looking to better the quality of health examination and treatment and reform the hospital system, while France is also enhancing management of public expenditure in health sector, improving medical benefits for low-income people.

On the occasion, the ministers signed a letter of intent on cooperation, stating that two sides agree to strengthen their bond in training medical staff for Vietnam, preventing infectious diseases, public health and preventive medicine, and building policies and legal frameworks for transfusion and transplant activities.

Minister Tien attended the France-Vietnam health workshop in Sorbonne and granted insignias “For the Health of the People” to 30 French medical experts for their contributions to Vietnam’s health sector on June 15^th.

The Vietnamese delegation also worked with representatives from the French Medical Council, and visited French National Blood Service (EFS), Pasteur Paris Institute, Pitie-Salpetriere.

The Vietnamese official witnessed the signing of the letter of intent on cooperation between Vietnam’s National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion and French National Blood Service (EFS), and the cooperation agreement between Hanoi Medical University and Paris 13 University on training, research and exchange of students.

In the past 25 years, more than 20 programmes were held in the fields of doctor training, technology transfer, public and preventive health, and scientific research. Around 3,000 Vietnamese doctors were trained at France’s hospitals, while many French professors taught at medical universities in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong city and Thua Thien-Hue province.

Vietnam also contributes three members to the Pasteur Institute network, namely the Ho Chi Minh City Pasteur Institute, Nha Trang Pasteur Institute and National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology./.

VNF/VNA