Medical check-ups for women and children in Dien Bien (Source: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – The United Nations Children’s Fund in Vietnam (UNICEF) and the Johnson & Johnson Company signed an agreement on improving health for disadvantaged ethnic minority women and children in Hanoi on December 9.
The targeted localities are Dien Bien, Lao Cai, Kon Tum, and Gia Lai, where a majority of their combined population of more than 3 million people is ethnic people.
From 2016-2020, the project, jointly implemented by UNICEF Vietnam, Johnson & Johnson and the Ministry of Health, will train more than 3,000 ethnic minority medical workers and midwives from the four provinces in safe baby delivery and infant caring skills.
Communication campaigns will be conducted in a bid to enhance the understanding of the quality health care service among productive women and mothers with infants.
Some 80 percent of pregnant women will have medical check-ups at least thrice during their pregnancy period, which could contribute to reducing the mortality among mothers, infants and under-one children in the localities.
Addressing the signing ceremony, Youssouf Abdel-Jelil, UNICEF Representative in Vietnam said actions are needed to ensure every child is born healthily and safely.
He expressed his belief that the partnership with Johnson & Johnson will contribute to improving the health of and welfare for Vietnamese women and children, especially the most disadvantaged groups.
Deputy President of the Johnson and Johnson Company Lauren Moore said the activities in the framework of the five-year agreement are expected to help reduce the mortality among mothers and infants thanks to improved health care service and staff capacity.-VNA
