Thursday, 24/08/2017 15:58 (GMT+7)
The Southern Vietnam Public Health Emergency Operations Center (EOC) was inaugurated on August 23rd in Ho Chi Minh city Pasteur Institute, on the sidelines of the the third APEC Senior Officials' Meeting and related meetings (SOM 3).
At the inauguration ceremony (Photo: nhandan.com.vn)
The inauguration ceremony was attended by Vietnamese Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien and US Secretary of Health and Human Services Thomas Price.
During globalization, epidemics and public health problems do not simply threaten Vietnam, but are also global challenges as epidemics can be transmitted from nation to nation, and outbreaks develop rapidly within hours or days across continents, including SARS, flu A, MERsCov, Ebola and Zika. Therefore, the establishment and operation of the EOC is a practical action to prevent epidemics.
The inauguration reflects Vietnam’s prestige and commitment in global health security cooperation, and shows US effective assistance in preventing and controlling public health problems.
It also helps reinforce the cooperative relations between the two Governments, and realise commitments in implementing joint targets among international communities in terms of preventing, discovering and fighting epidemics.
This was the third such centre in Vietnam, assisting its health sector to deal with health emergency cases, including existing or emerging dangerous epidemics which affect social welfare and people’s health.
The national EOC, located at the headquarters of the Ministry of Health, has been established and put into operation since May 2013.
Meanwhile, the northern EOC, established in 2016, was located at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE)./.
Compiled by BTA