HPG Year End Meeting 2017

The Health Partnership Group (HPG) Year End Meeting was successfully held in Hanoi on December 07, 2017. Prof. Le Quang Cuong, Vice Minister of Health of Viet Nam attended the meeting and delivered the opening remarks to the participants. The meeting also brought together the representatives from other related Ministries/ agencies, provinces, and from Development Partners including embassies, international organizations, non-governmental organizations operating in Viet Nam.

Speaking at the Meeting, Vice Minister Le Quang Cuong said that the 2017 was marked by the outstanding socio-economic achievements and a remarkable political events of Viet Nam. In the situation, the MOH proactively carried out with success a number of tasks and missions which are significant to the country and the international community. Specifically, the Central Executive Committee adopted on October 5, 2017 the Resolution No. 20-NQ/TW and No. 21-NQ-TW with the big efforts made by the MOH, the provinces, the DPs, among others.

Vice Minister Le Quang Cuong affirmed that the implementation of the Resolution No. 20-NQ/TW and No. 21-NQ/TW dated October 25, 2017 would be strictly in line with the accomplishment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the United Nations. He added that the objectives fixed in the two Resolutions already included the criteria for achieving the SDGs and MDGs related to health. The objectives would be translated into the programs and projects so that they can be integrated in to the 5 year plan and annual plan of the health sector.

He also briefed with the participants some new contents of the two Resolutions. As for the Resolution No. 20, it is similar to the Resolution No. 46-NQ/TW dated February 23, 2015 in the general spirit, but the new one is more specific and it clarifies what the MOH have to do in the coming time. And the implementation of the Resolution must be accompanied with the action plan, the regular reports and the deadline. Therefore, the implementation of the Resolution is really feasible, but it would also pose the challenges on the MOH.

He added that the Resolution No. 20-NQ/TW covers all the ideas of Vietnamese health system, focusing on the health promotion, which is mentioned for the first time in the Resolution; grassroots health system; family medicine; health workforce and health training education

Regarding the Resolution No. 21-NQ/TW, he informed the participants that one of the new important contents is that the population policy would be shifted from the Population and Family Planning to the population and development. Since this is a new content for Viet Nam, the Vice Minister hope to receive the support and experience from the DPs so that Viet Nam would implement successfully this content.

On behalf of the MOH, Vice Minister Le Quang Cuong expressed his sincere thanks to other Ministries, agencies; the local and international organizations, experts for supporting the MOH in development of the two Resolutions. He wish to consult all participants on the plan for supporting the implementation of the Resolutions; in alignment with the SDGs and the 5 year health sector plan, and how to leverage the support and participation of stakeholders in the implementation of the Resolutions for the health sector in the new context.