As Việt Nam battles the fourth way of COVID-19 pandemic, lingering since late April, much of the country's resources have been streamlined to treat infected people, limit transmissions and accelerate the national vaccination campaign.

Joining the fight, Abbott has stepped up assistance through a strength support program for COVID-19 in a frontline in partnership with the Vietnam Red Cross Society by increasing aid to both healthcare professionals (HCPs) and patients, extending work that started in 2020.

Abbott was presented an award by National Assembly Vice-Chairman Uông Chu Lưu and the Vietnam Red Cross Society Chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Xuân Thu.

In 2020 apart from supporting frontline HCPs to fight in the first wave of the pandemic, the program delivered thousands of packs of personal protective equipment and 30,000 Ensure bottles to 24 frontline hospitals across the country.

Throughout 2021, the US healthcare company has expanded support to HCPs in Việt Nam’s biggest hotspots. The program delivered almost 200,000 Ensure bottles, 5,000 Panbio COVID-19 antigen rapid tests and thousands of PPE packs to HCPs in a hundred frontline hospitals in HCM City and provinces of Bắc Giang and Bắc Ninh in the northern region and southern locations such as Bình Dương and Đồng Nai.

In the last months of the year, nearly 25,000 PediaSure bottles were handed to pediatric patients in HCM City and seven other southern localities.

Abbott supported HCPs to stay healthy, strong and safe in the COVID frontline fight nationwide.

The latest support has raised the grants and product donations to Việt Nam by Abbott and its foundation, the Abbott Fund, to more than 275 billion đồng (US$12 million) to address critical health issues, with a focus on improving nutrition, strengthening health systems, addressing malnutrition, diabetes, and keeping frontline HCPs strong and safe in the pandemic fight, along with expanding community education.

Actions taken in Việt Nam by Abbott, now a global healthcare leader and which arrived in the Southeast Asian nation in 1995, reflect its commitments to the delivery of the long-term impact for the people it serves by shaping the future of healthcare and helping the greatest number of people live better and healthier lives.

Fighting NCDs

Việt Nam's national strategy for the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) for the 2015-2025 period stated that the key solutions are to promote prevention, strengthening primary healthcare to reduce risk factors, increasing the rate of detection and treatment of NCDs.

As Abbott acts in line with the country's strategy, it has been bringing in a number of technological breakthroughs. The Amplatzer Piccolo Occluder has been the latest device made available in Việt Nam this year.

The Amplatzer Piccolo Occluder device was originally developed for adults. Abbott’s scientists and engineers have later worked to adapt this breakthrough technology to treat premature infants. Now, at no bigger than the size of a pea, this device assists HCPs to close holes in babies’ hearts, medically referred to as patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), and open up lifetimes of possibilities for the most vulnerable.

PDA is one of cardiovascular diseases that, along with diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory diseases, makes up the four main NCDs.

Abbott's activities in Việt Nam reflect the company's clear purpose, which in its recently developed 2030 Sustainability Plan has a focus on innovating for greater access to life-changing technologies and breaking down barriers to health equity to reach more than 3 billion people by 2030. The company’s 109,000 staff are working to make a lasting impact on health for 2 billion people in more than 160 countries.

“Using our primary expertise to help the world achieve greater total health at lower total cost is the most meaningful way we can contribute to the long-term sustainability of our society and our planet,” said President and Chief Executive Officer Robert B. Ford, who was named Chairman of the Board on December 10, 2021. 

Top score in industry

In November 2021 Abbott achieved the highest score out of 84 companies in its industry in the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment, also called the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), marking the ninth consecutive year that it has secured the top score in the Health Care Equipment and Supplies sector.

Abbott said it was committed to working side-by-side with people and communities it serves, partners, governments, and other stakeholders to address health disparities.

It has partnered with the 13-million-member strong Vietnam Women's Union to develop a program on supporting breastfeeding through establishing health clubs. The program has grown substantially in the past decade, now covering the whole nation and has expanded to healthcare and nutrition education, along with the provision of access to healthcare services.

Since 2011, Abbott and Vietnam’s Women Union developed a program providing healthcare, nutrition education and access to healthcare service.

In October 2021 Abbott and the Women’s Union organised an online forum to find ways to raise physical and mental health for children to overcome the negative impact of the pandemic.

In addressing the malnutrition issue and health disparity, the Giao Diem Humanity program with Americares has been helping children suffering malnutrition in remote areas of Việt Nam's central provinces of Quảng Trị and Thừa Thiên-Huế since 2005. Workshops have been organised to educate parents, teachers and healthcare providers to tackle malnutrition, and Abbott's PediaSure products are provided for children at risk to catch up on their growth.

The Giao Diem Humanity Foundation is a US-based organization gathering volunteers dedicated to humanitarian activities in Việt Nam since 1991. It has a partnership with the Abbott Fund and Americares, a health-focused relief and development organization.

Abbott, established in 1888 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange, has pledged to help people live more fully at all stages of life. The company's portfolio of life-changing technologies spans the spectrum of healthcare, with leading businesses and products in diagnostics, medical devices, nutrition and medicine.