US funds US$3 million for Vietnam to cope with Covid-19

The US government has decided to finance US$3 million in health assistance for Vietnam to strengthen the latter's health capacity to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.

The funding, sourced from the State Department and the USAID, will help the Vietnamese government prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, support technical experts for response and preparedness, risk communication, infection prevention and control, and more.

The US intensifies health assistance for Vietnam. Photo: AIH

The amount of money is from the financial package of US$274 million in emergency health and humanitarian assistance to help 64 of the most at-risk countries facing the threat of the global pandemic.

Over the past 20 years, the US has invested more than US$706 million in health assistance and more than US$1.8 billion in total assistance for Vietnam, the US State Department has said in a statement on its website.

In the fight against Covid-19, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has cooperated with Vietnam’s health agencies for better response.

Representatives of CDC said they were planning to promote the cooperation between the two countries and the establishment of CDC’s Regional Office in Vietnam.

Recently, both American authorities and businesses have been interested in health cooperation with Vietnam, Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Ha Kim Ngoc said.

Earlier this month, Ambassador Ha Kim Ngoc said that the US is mulling importing several kinds of medical equipment from Vietnam to empower the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.