Support from the international community has contributed effectively to the protection and improvement of Vietnamese people’s physical wellbeing, Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien has said.

Tien made the statement at a forum themed “Vietnam’s Health: Integration and Development” in Hanoi on February 26, which attracted the participation of representatives from several embassies, the United Nations and international organisations operating in this field in Vietnam.

She declared that in the context of international integration, the global community and development partners have provided the Vietnamese health sector with both financial and technical assistance.

At the end of 2013, the ministry was managing 42 ODA programmes and projects worth 1.52 billion USD.

In addition, it also received assistance from non-governmental organisations through 108 projects with a total capital of more than 173 million USD.

Tien said that the forum offered a chance for the ministry to hear comments from the international community on its key priorities.

Participants exchanged views on how to prevent newly-emerging infectious diseases and also discussed health-related Millennium Development Goals, human resources development and advanced technology transfer.

Tomoyuki Kimura, country Director of the Asian Development Bank in Vietnam, stressed the need for the nation to invest in the sector, as it is facing a double burden of infectious and non-infectious disease risks.-VNA