A doctor examines a baby in Thừa Thiên Huế Province. — Photo baothuathienhue.vn

HÀ NỘI — Local and international health experts discussed ways to build consensus and a roadmap to universal health coverage (UHC) in Việt Nam at the Primary Healthcare Partnership Dialogue in Hà Nội on Thursday.

The one-day event was held by Vietnamese Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the World Economic Forum, Harvard Medical School Center for Primary Care and pharmaceutical firm Novartis.

At the event, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyễn Trường Sơn said Việt Nam had already achieved great success in achieving most of the Millennium Development Goals and wished to continue this by achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly healthcare targets.

“Việt Nam is committed to achieving UHC by 2030,” stressed Sơn.

“We see Việt Nam as a leader in universal health coverage. We believe Việt Nam is setting a great example in working together with companies, civil society and academia to achieve affordable, high quality universal health care,” said Dr Dessislava Dimitrova, Practice Lead, Health Systems Transformation, World Economic Forum.

Dimitrova said that the role of World Economic Forum as a neutral platform to enable multi-stakeholder partnerships was very important, as governments need to work with the private sector and other stakeholders to transform their health systems.

At the event, more than 150 participants discussed the formation of a working group for primary healthcare transformation, under the existing health partnership group mechanism. They also developed activities to strengthen existing the health ministry’s projects and initiatives in 30 provinces to transform primary healthcare in Việt Nam.

During the dialogue, they also shared challenges and opportunities around primary healthcare transformation and accessing primary healthcare, with a focus on MOH driven initiatives, projects and investments.

Nearly 90 per cent of Việt Nam’s population is under health insurance coverage. — VNS