The Vietnamese Health Ministry and the US Department for Health and Human Services reached an agreement on health and medical science cooperation in Hanoi on June 17.

Under the deal signed by Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien and visiting US Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, the two sides will cooperate in the fields of medical science and training.

Accordingly, the US side will help Vietnam enhance the capacity of staff responsible for controlling the quality of drugs. New methods and techniques will be transferred to the Vietnamese side.

The two sides will work together to quickly discover and prevent fake and low-quality drugs.

They also agreed to join hands in establishing medical standards and improving the quality of laboratories and setting up biological safety labs.

HIV/AIDS prevention is also part of the two sides’ cooperation.

At the signing ceremony, Minister Tien and Secretary Sebelius discussed priorities for the two sides’ cooperation, including preventive medicine, HIV/AIDS prevention and global health security.

In 1979, Vietnam and the US first saw health and medical cooperation through non-governmental organisations. Since the two countries normalised their diplomatic ties in 1995, the two sides have carried out health cooperation in various sectors, including HIV/AIDS prevention and medical staff training.

In July 2006, the first agreement on health and medical science cooperation between Vietnam and the US was signed, focusing on fighting HIV/AIDS, enhancing the capacity of those working in the fields of food safety and hygiene, and pharmacy.

The same day, the US official visited poultry market Ha Vy in Hanoi’s Thuong Tin district. She then visited and worked with Hanoi Medicine University.-VNA