The Health Strategy and Policy Institute and AstraZeneca Vietnam have signed a memorandum of understanding to make the health system sustainable and resilient by 2025.

The three-year collaboration is expected to help the country effectively prevent and respond to healthcare challenges.

The MoU follows the successful trial in the last two years of a global programme called Partnership for the Vietnamese Health System’s Sustainability and Resilience (PHSSR) jointly set up by the World Economic Forum, London School of Economics and AstraZeneca.

Viet Nam was the first country in Asia to join the programme, and the institute (HSPI) adopted a framework devised for the programme to analyse the strengths and limitations of the health system, which were included in the PHSSR Viet Nam report.

PHSSR’s mission is to study and help build health systems that are both resilient to crises and sustainable in the face of long-term stress.

It does this by providing tools and resources for research, a focal point for collaboration and knowledge exchange within and between countries, and a platform to disseminate and catalyse the adoption of breakthrough insights.

Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan said the healthcare system has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic but also pre-existing issues, and it is crucial to draw lessons from the experiences.

“This co-operation will provide many advanced and practical solutions to enhance the sustainability and resilience of our health system."

Tran Thi Mai Oanh, director of HSPI, said the pandemic has helped objectively assess the strengths and limitations of the country’s healthcare system.

“Through this programme, we aim to provide valuable evidence to build health policies, boosting our post-pandemic recovery and preparedness for future diseases.”

She said with support from AstraZeneca, HSPI will advance research and recommendation of policy solutions to meet three main objectives: strengthening the sustainability of health financing; ensuring Viet Nam’s self-sufficiency in terms of medicine and vaccine supply; and improving access to healthcare and managing non-communicable diseases at medical facilities.

Nitin Kapoor, chairman and general director of AstraZeneca Viet Nam and Asia Area Frontier Markets, said: “This partnership will comprehensively strengthen the health system, accelerate local manufacturing and R&D, and benefit the whole society.”

The programme began in Viet Nam and seven other countries, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and Russia, to analyse health systems against the framework criteria.

An action plan was established for each country with a series of steps for health leaders and policymakers to take to strengthen systems against future crises.

It is running in 13 more countries this year.

Philips, KPMG, WHO Foundation, the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation, and Apollo Hospitals have come on board as partners.

AstraZeneca is a British-Swedish pharmaceutical company with expertise in invention, development and commercialisation of specialty drugs in three key areas: cancer, rare diseases and bio-pharmaceuticals.

It has received the Minister of Health’s certificate of merit twice - for contributions to advancing cancer treatment in 2019 and to the country’s COVID-19 response in 2020 - amongst various industry awards. — VNS