Vietnam joins global framework to build resilient health systems for next pandemic

Dr. Tran Thi Mai Oanh, director of the HSPI, spoke at the Healthcare System Resilience Summit

Dr. Tran Thi Mai Oanh, director at the HSPI, spoke in an expert forum that is a part of the Healthcare System Resilience Summit, convened by AstraZeneca at EXPO 2020 Dubai, which is currently hosted until the end of March.

This framework, along with the event, is part of the Partnership for Health System Sustainability and Resilience (PHSSR) – a programme that has been implemented in Vietnam since 2020 through the cooperation between HSPI and AstraZeneca.

The PHSSR framework, devised by the London School of Economics, has laid the groundwork to boost innovation across five key domains – governance, funding, workforce, medicines and technology, and service delivery – to render health systems more resilient.

At the Summit, Oanh shared about Vietnam’s valuable experience in developing and leveraging an extensive grassroots healthcare network with more than 11,000 ward and commune health facilities, which played a vital role in the early detection, effective monitoring, and control of COVID-19, as well as rapid vaccination for the communities.

“Despite these successes, Vietnam’s healthcare system has been acutely affected by COVID-19 as well as existing burdens from non-communicable diseases. The implementation of the PHSSR framework has helped us identify areas where further investments and innovations are needed to holistically develop a more resilient and sustainable health system. At the same time, we are also keen to support wider adoption of the framework as a universal oversight mechanism for crisis preparedness.”

Nitin Kapoor, chairman and general director at AstraZeneca Vietnam and Asia Area Frontier Markets said, “This Summit comes at a crucial point for global health systems, which remain under enormous pressure almost two years since the start of the pandemic. Experts are right to recommend that pandemic control must come first, but that it needs to be followed by the comprehensive modernisation and reform of our health system. We hope that the experience gained from the effective adoption of the PHSSR framework in Vietnam will be helpful to other countries.”

The event also attracted other speakers, including Lena Hallengren, Minister of Health and Social Affairs of Sweden; Jose Manuel Barroso, chair of GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance and former president of the European Commission; Malcolm Turnbull, former prime minister of Australia; Prof. Ahmed Aljeadi, Deputy Minister of Health of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; and Borge Brende, former Norway Minister of Foreign Affairs and president of the World Economic Forum.