The Ministry of Public Health on August 30 presented its minister’s certificate of merit and an insignia for the cause of population health to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) deputy representative Urmila Singh.

Addressing the event, Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Ba Thuy said that over the past 30 years UNFPA has made important contributions to Vietnam ’s health care through population, family planning and reproductive health activities.

The presentation aims to recognise Urmila Singh’s valuable contributions to Vietnamese maternal and child health care, he added.

As UNFPA deputy representative since 2006, Urmila Singh has contributed effectively to the cooperative relationship between UNFPA and Vietnam .

During her office term, Urmila Singh successfully built one UN programme and gave priorities to reproductive and sex health care at central and local levels. She also assisted the ministry in implementing the second phase of the population and reproductive health care strategies for the 2001-2010 period as well as devising a one-year transfer plan on reproductive healthcare, population development and gender balance issues for Vietnam .

Additionally, Urmila Singh played a key role in building and amending the spending level orientation to be applied to the UN system in Vietnam and mobilised external sources for safe motherhood, ethnic minorities and health policies for ethnic people who live in mountainous regions.

Urmila Singh thanked the ministry for her awards and said she hoped the ministry would finalise its millennium goals and build a good medical system, especially for disadvantaged people./.