WHO: Viet Nam takes great leap forward in public healthcare

Dr. Angela Pratt made the above statement in an interview with VGP about the healthcare system in Viet Nam in 2024 ahead of the Lunar New Year Festival 2025.

What are your most impressions of Viet Nam in 2024, especially in terms of public healthcare and medical policy making?

Dr Angela Pratt: Thank you very much. I think 2024 was a very big and exciting year for health and public health in Viet Nam. We had a very exciting moment right at the end of the year when the National Assembly voted unanimously or almost unanimously to ban e-cigarettes or vaping products. These products are very dangerous for young people and their health, so we were very excited with this very strong and bold action from the National Assembly to protect the health of people in Viet Nam, especially young people.

But many other achievements over the course of the year, to list just a few, Viet Nam continued to expand access to social health insurance. Now almost 95 percent of the population is covered with social health insurance. Many other important health laws were revised or updated or adopted by the National Assembly last year, which will really strengthen the foundations of the health system for many years to come. In many parts of the country, the government continued to expand and strengthen primary health care or grassroots health care, especially access to care for people with chronic conditions like hypertension and diabetes.

The government responded very effectively to many disease outbreaks, as well as made many efforts to ensure children are vaccinated, especially children who missed out on vaccines over the last few years, made up to date with their routine immunizations. We still have some worries in that area. There's now quite a big measles outbreak, but we're working very closely with the government to respond to that.

Many other achievements beyond the health sector, but which will have very important impact on health. For example, new laws adopted to make it safe for children to travel in cars on Viet Nam's roads by introducing a requirement from next year for children to be protected in cars through what we call child restraint systems or child seats. Also, one of the things we observed last year is really a much growing commitment and openness to discussion about how to tackle the health impacts of climate change, as well as issues like air pollution. So lots and lots happened in 2024, lots and lots to do in 2025. Really, really happy and proud of what WHO was able to contribute to some of that work and really looking forward to our work ahead in 2025.

As far as I know you are one of WHO's leading experts in tobacco control, could you please give some suggestions for the Vietnamese Government to effectively implement the ban on cigarettes and heated tobacco products, effective from 2025?

Dr Angela Pratt: Well I think one of the most important things that we need to prioritise is support for people who are currently addicted to these products and we know that many people are because they contain nicotine and nicotine is a highly addictive substance. So really one of the most important things to focus on is support for people to quit, making sure people who are currently using have the support they need whether it's through counselling provided by a quit line for example, more specialised or targeted support from their doctor, so people who are using these products getting that support to quit.

In addition to that, to implement the National Assembly's ban on these products in Viet nam, we really need to tackle the problem at what we call the root cause. So that is stopping importation, especially smuggling. We know there's lots of smuggling of these products into Vietnam, stopping the manufacturing and sales, so that it's harder for people to access them. We know that for young people these products are designed to be attractive so we need to make it harder for them to access these products.

To do that well, many sectors and different parts of the government will need to work together, the customs, agents, police, the parts of the government that regulate retail sales and marketing, so there will need to be a very strong multi-sectoral effort and all of that will need to be supported by very strong public awareness and information campaigns and WHO will be very happy to support all of this work and especially that public awareness and engagement piece. We know across all areas of public health that initiatives are most successfully implemented when the public understands why they are important and supports the implementation and the public awareness campaign is a very important part of that.

Please tell us about WHO's cooperative priorities to support Viet Nam in 2025?

Dr Angela Pratt: So, our priorities are designed in very close collaboration with the government, of course, with the Ministry of Health primarily. And so, our priorities really reflect the needs and priorities of the government and what, where the government most needs our support.

So we will be working on five key areas in 2025.

Number one is what we call the institutional strengthening of the health system. So, further improving health laws, policies, regulations, guidelines, with the overarching aim of universal health coverage in mind. That is making sure everyone in every corner of this vast and beautiful country can get the health care that they need when they need it, either free or at a price that they can afford.

The second area is to continue our focus on strengthening grassroots health care or primary health care, particularly to make sure that grassroots health services are working for people with either long-term chronic conditions like hypertension or diabetes, or sort of priority infectious diseases, tuberculosis, hepatitis, etc. We need to make sure that health services close to where people live are working well to serve the needs of the people in those areas.

A third focus will be to continuing to support the government to strengthen its health security and health emergency preparedness and response systems. COVID is now well and truly in the rearview mirror, but we still have many lessons from COVID that we need to learn and apply to make sure that if there's another pandemic threat in the future or any other kind of health emergency that Viet Nam is well placed, well prepared and well placed to respond.

A fourth area of work is on tackling the risk, what we call the risk factors for non-communicable diseases. So, non-communicable diseases are things like heart disease, cancer, stroke, etc. The majority of people with those diseases, it's caused by preventable risk factors. Smoking is the big one. Excessive use of alcohol, unhealthy diets, not enough physical activity. So, we want to continue our work with the government to address the risk factors, the sort of upstream drivers of that ill health in the population.

Last but definitely not least is the health impacts of climate change. Viet Nam is very vulnerable to climate change and therefore to its health impacts. We've done some really important work with the government and many of our partners in the last 12 months to establish partnerships and bring a greater awareness, I think, about the health impacts of climate change as well as of environmental issues like air pollution. So, we look forward to continuing our work in that very important area.

What are your expectations for Viet Nam's development in 2025 and the following years especially Viet Nam is embracing a new era of prosperity and reform under the motto "Era of Vietnamese Nation's Rise?

Dr Angela Pratt: Well, my expectation for 2025 and the next few years is that WHO, we hope will continue our work with the government to improve the health of the people and the health system that serves the people. Really thinking about the needs, not just of people today, but into the future and building the health system that Viet Nam needs for the future.

I think it's a very exciting time to be working in Viet Nam. Viet Nam is a beautiful, dynamic, rapidly developing, wonderful country with big aspirations for its own development. The government has set some very ambitious targets for Viet Nam's economic growth, some very ambitious targets for addressing climate change and has launched a very exciting agenda of transformation in areas like digital technology.

So I think it's a really exciting time for anyone to be in Viet Nam. 

For WHO, we greatly appreciate the importance that the government attaches to health and human development. The government understands very well that it will not be able to achieve its ambitious plans for economic development, for example, without ensuring that the health of the people is prioritised. Economies can't grow without healthy people. I think that's one of the lessons that we learned from COVID, again, that health and the economy are inextricably linked. So WHO is very excited, as always, about the years ahead. We're really very proud to play a small, but we hope meaningful part in contributing to the government's work, supporting the government to achieve its ambitions for the country, for its people into the future.

As the Lunar New Year Festival is approaching. How do you feel about the most important festival in Viet Nam? Do you have any special plan to enjoy the big festival with your family?

Do you have any message for Vietnamese people to protect their health and welcome the festival amidst HMPV outbreak in Chia?

Dr Angela Pratt: I love this time of the year in Viet Nam. I love seeing the beautiful orange trees and blossoms around the city of Ha Noi. I love walking and running around Lake Tay Ho and looking at all of the people and the families preparing for the Tet celebration.

I really enjoyed in the last couple of years learning about the meaning of Tet itself. So I understand that it is very important, (it is) the most important festival. Also many traditions are leading up to Tet and the way that people and their families prepare. I think it is the time of year when the atmosphere is very special. There is a sense of hope, sense of renewal that any new year period brings. So it is really one of my favorite times of year in Ha Noi. I am very happy to be here to experience some of this lovely atmosphere.

My wish for the people of Viet Nam is to stay safe, to stay healthy, to take care of yourselves, and your families at this time of year. It is winter in the North of Viet Nam and the norther hemisphere. There are many respiratory illnesses and other illnesses circulating in the population in countries all over the northern hemisphere. So nowit is the time when people can be prone to getting sick. So my advice to everybody is to take good care of yourself. If you are sick or experiencing respiratory symptoms, try to stay away from others a little bit to not make other people sick and of course if you are very unwell, seek medical attention.

My wish for everybody in Viet Nam as we are approach the Year of the Snake is: Good Health, Happiness, Peace and Prosperity for the year ahead.

Thank you!