HHS Secretary Concludes Visit to Southeast Asia

April 17, 2008 - U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael O. Leavitt tours the port of Ho Chi Minh City to learn more about Vietnamese efforts on product safety. (Photo Credit: Christopher Hickey)

April 18, 2008 – U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Michael O. Leavitt is on a three-day visit to Viet Nam on the final leg of his visit to Southeast Asia, focused on product safety and cooperation in combatting infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS and highly pathogenic avian influenza.  While in Hanoi, the Secretary met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tun Dũng, Health Minister Nguyen Tro Trieu, and Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Bui Ba Bong, to discuss U.S.-Vietnamese cooperation on product safety, pandemic-influenza preparedness, and HIV/AIDS.  He also spoke with students at the Hanoi School of Public Health, and addressed the American Chamber of Commerce on product safety.  In southern Viet Nam, the Secretary toured the Port of Saigon, met with peer counselors and health workers involved in a drug-treatment program in Ho Chi Minh City funded by the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, and visited a chicken farm and fish-processing plant in Ban Tre Province, in the Mekong Delta.

For more information:

• Photo Gallery of HHS Secretary Michael O. Leavitt's Visit to Southeast Asia

Last revised: April 22, 2008