The Japanese Government will provide Vietnam with rubella–measles combined vaccine production technology as part of its Strategy on Global Health Diplomacy issued by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in May.
 
Accordingly, an official development assistance (ODA)-funded vaccine production system will be built in Vietnam by 2018, using technology from Japan’s Kitasato Daiichi Sankyo Vaccine.

Kitasato Daiichi Sankyo Vaccine will also assign its researchers and technicians to Vietnam’s Centre for Research and Production of Vaccines (POLYVAC) for joint vaccine production and research on the mass production of this vaccine.

According to Japanese experts, Vietnam needs 2.5 million doses of the vaccine every year to inoculate children.

Rubella cases in Southeast Asia have been on the increase in recent years. Most regional countries however, are unable to produce their own vaccine against the disease.

Under the strategy, Japan will coordinate with countries to improve maternal and child health as well as adopt policies to cope with infectious diseases in developing countries.-VNA