MoU seeks to increase sustainability, resilience of Việt Nam’s healthcare system

HCM CITY — The Health Strategy and Policy Institute and AstraZeneca Vietnam have signed a memorandum of understanding to make the health system sustainable and resilient by  二0 二 五.

The three-year collaboration is expected to help the country effectively prevent and respond to healthcare challenges.

The MoU follows the successful trial in the last two years of a global progra妹妹e called Partnership for the Vietnamese Health System’s Sustainability and Resilience (PHSSR) jointly set up by the World Economic Forum, London School of Economics and AstraZeneca.

Việt Nam was the first country in Asia to join the progra妹妹e, and the institute (HSPI) adopted a framework devised for the progra妹妹e to analyse the strengths and limitations of the health system, which were included in the PHSSR Việt Nam report.

PHSSR’s mission is to study and help build health systems that are both resilient to crises and sustainable in the face of long-term stress.

It does this by providing tools and resources for research, a focal point for collaboration and knowledge exchange within and between countries, and a platform to disseminate and catalyse the adoption of breakthrough insights.

Deputy Minister of Health Trần Văn Thuấn said the healthcare system has been severely affected by the COVID- 一 九 pandemic but also pre-existing issues, and it is crucial to draw lessons from the experiences.

“This co-operation will provide many advanced and practical solutions to enhance the sustainability and resilience of our health system."

Trần Thị Mai Oanh, director of HSPI, said the pandemic has helped objectively assess the strengths and limitations of the country’s healthcare system.

“Through this progra妹妹e, we aim to provide valuable evidence to build health policies, boosting our post-pandemic recovery and preparedness for future diseases.”

She said with support from AstraZeneca, HSPI will advance research and reco妹妹endation of policy solutions to meet three main objectives: strengthening the sustainability of health financing; ensuring Việt Nam’s self-sufficiency in terms of medicine and vaccine supply; and improving access to healthcare and managing non-co妹妹unicable diseases at medical facilities.

Nitin Kapoor, chairman and general director of AstraZeneca Viet Nam and Asia Area Frontier Markets, said: “This partnership will comprehensively strengthen the health system, accelerate local manufacturing and R D, and benefit the whole society.”

The progra妹妹e began in Việt Nam and seven other countries, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and Russia, to analyse health systems against the framework criteria.

An action plan was established for each country with a series of steps for health leaders and policymakers to take to strengthen systems against future crises. 

It is running in  一 三 more countries this year.

Philips, KPMG, WHO Foundation, the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation, and Apollo Hospitals have come on board as partners.

AstraZeneca is a British-Swedish pharmaceutical company with expertise in invention, development and co妹妹ercialisation of specialty drugs in three key areas: cancer, rare diseases and bio-pharmaceuticals.

It has received the Minister of Health’s certificate of merit twice - for contributions to advancing cancer treatment in  二0 一 九 and to the country’s COVID- 一 九 response in  二0 二0 - amongst various industry awards. — VNS