The ADB provides approximately US$40 million to Vietnam’s healthcare sector every year.

Deputy Health Minister Le Quang Cuong and Asian Development Bank (ADB) Country Director Tomoyuki Kimura co-hosted the Health Partnership Group (HPG) Meeting for 2013’s second quarter in Hanoi on July 5. 

Cuong acknowledged Vietnam’s impressive successes in regards to a number of healthcare millennium development goals (MDGs). But fulfilling these goals completely will require addressing persistent healthcare disparity between the rural and urban and the rich and poor, the disappointing efforts at obesity prevention, malnutrition, malaria, and HIV/AIDS.

The Ministry of Health has formulated a project pushing the country on to conclusively realising the UN’s healthcare MDGs.

ADB Director Kimura also credited Vietnam’s achievements over the years, committing his bank to extending its support of the country’s future healthcare reforms. These reforms focus on reducing patient overload, controlling contagious diseases, improving preventive medical services, and medical worker quality and training.

The Vietnamese healthcare sector’s external financial resources account for 3 percent of the sector’s total and will gradually reduce. As a middle income country, the country can no longer rely on a wealth of ODA funding.

The ADB provides approximately US$40 million to Vietnam’s healthcare sector every year, Kimura said.

The HPG meeting offered delegates the chance to discuss aid issues and the healthcare sector’s most pressing priorities. They evaluated a recent healthcare sector review and considered the implications of aid efficiency and technical group agreement negotiations.

VOV