WHO Assistant Director-General Dr. Mariangela Simao (fourth from left), Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen (fifth from left), Ambassador Le Thi Tuyet Mai, head of the Vietnamese Delegation in Geneva (third from left), with some representatives of the Ministry of Health, the group of inventors Vihelm at the meeting at WHO headquarters, on the evening of November 28. Photo: WVR

Attending the meeting were WHO Assistant Director-General Dr. Mariangela Simao, Dr. Giles Forte, and Adriana Venazquez, a WHO Senior Advisor on Health Products.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen, Ambassador Le Thi Tuyet Mai, permanent representative of Vietna​​m to the United Nations, World Trade Organization and international organizations in Geneva, with a number of experts from the Ministry of Health, and the inventors of the mobile isolation helmet Vihelm.

The meeting took place after the visit of President Nguyen Xuan Phuc to the WHO, on behalf of the Director General of WHO, Dr. Simao welcomed the Vietnamese delegation to the WHO headquarters. He stated that WHO appreciates the cooperation of the Vietnamese Government in the health sector and innovation, especially from young people like the inventors of Vihelm helmets, in finding new solutions to protect people's health, in the context of the current Covid-19 pandemic.

WHO also welcomed the intention of the Vihelm helmet inventor group to register to participate in the Covid-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) - an initiative proposed by Costa Rica and WHO.

The goal of C-TAP is through the open sharing of technological know-how and patents to ensure timely and equitable access to Covid-19 prevention tools and products.

Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen said that Vietnam welcomes WHO's C-TAP initiative to strengthen international solidarity to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic.

C-TAP will promote scientific and technological initiatives in the prevention and control of Covid-19. It also celebrates the global solidarity of the countries participating in the Solidarity Call to Action to bring together inventors and technology companies to join hands in efforts to respond to the pandemic.

Recently, many innovations have been developed and applied in Vietnam, including the invention of Vihelm helmet by young Vietnamese inventors. Vihelm helmets are portable respiratory protection air purifiers.

This patent group also proposes an alternative to the traditional home isolation method by allowing the person in need of isolation to use this helmet to go out during the isolation period. This is a revolutionary idea for medical isolation that deserves further research attention.

The Vihelm patent team has shared product designs for free and is ready to support technology transfer through C-TAP to facilitate access to Vihelm helmet technology against Covid-19.

Group of Vihelm inventors, and WHO representative after technical exchange at the meeting on the evening of November 28. Photo: WVR

This contribution of the patent team to C-TAP represents the international solidarity against Covid-19, which is welcomed by both WHO and the Ministry of Health of Vietnam.

Deputy Minister Do Xuan Tuyen expressed his belief that with the coordination of WHO and the participation of countries, inventors and scientists with the spirit of international solidarity, C-TAP will become more popular, with many applied scientific research and practical patent products.

The Deputy Minister also said that Vietnam is ready to join C-TAP to share open inventions and transfer technology with the world in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and other diseases.

After this meeting, WHO experts worked in detail with the Vihelm hat patent team and Vihelm company. They talked about some technical issues of the WHO review process for medical products to include Vihelm helmets in the list of open patent share products in the WHO's C-TAP mechanism. They also mentioned that it is possible to transfer Vihelm helmets production technology to interested manufacturers in other countries, contributing to the fight against Covid-19 pandemic.

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