News Release

HHS Secretary Leavitt Signs Agreement on Health and Medical Science with Vietnamese Minister of Health

U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt and Vietnamese Minister of Health Tran Thi Trung Chien today signed an agreement promising continued cooperation on health issues, including emerging diseases, avian and pandemic influenza and HIV/AIDS.

"HHS looks forward to strengthening our ties with Vietnam in areas of health," Secretary Leavitt said. "By increasing the quality and availability of health care in Viet Nam, we increase our ability to more effectively fight the spread of infectious diseases in the region and across the world."

The agreement includes areas of mutual interest, exchanges of technical expertise and development of rapid response plans for Viet Nam. The agreement will also encourage and facilitate the development of direct contacts and cooperation among government agencies, universities, research centers, institutions, private-sector companies and other entities. This agreement is a follow up to the letter of intent of cooperation that both parties signed in October 2005 in Hanoi.

During the meeting, Secretary Leavitt and Minister Chien also discussed the current situation of avian influenza in Viet Nam. To date, the World Health Organization (WHO) Secretariat has confirmed 93 human cases and 42 human deaths from H5N1 avian influenza in Viet Nam. Last year, Viet Nam initiated a mass poultry culling and vaccination effort combined with a public education campaign. These and other efforts appear to be successful and Viet Nam is considered a success story and the global health community is studying their actions to be able to duplicate their success.

Since August 2005, HHS has committed approximately $4.35 million to efforts to strengthen Viet Nam’s ability to detect, diagnose and respond to avian and human influenza outbreaks. These funds are being provided to strengthen laboratory capacity, train rapid response teams, strengthen pandemic-influenza preparedness and continued efforts to improve the human-influenza surveillance system. These efforts are in addition to technical expertise provided in the area of vaccine development and the building of high-containment laboratories.

The two health leaders also talked about cooperation in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Viet Nam is one of 15 focus countries in the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. U.S. support for HIV/AIDS control in Viet Nam consists of bilateral support to Viet Nam, as well as multilateral support through the WHO’s Global Fund. Viet Nam is receiving $34,069,000 in Fiscal Year (FY) 2006 under the President’s Emergency Plan; with a proposed FY 2007 budget is $59,000,000. These funds are provided by HHS, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of Defense and other participating agencies.

During the meeting, Minister Chien presented an award to former HHS Health Attaché Marie Haring Sweeney for her support of HHS-Vietnamese health collaborations. Secretary Leavitt announced the appointment of Dr. Michael Iademarco as the new HHS Health Attaché in Vietnam. The HHS Office of Global Health Affairs has a cadre of health and science experts serving as liaison between the U.S. Embassies and U.S. Government programs and the officials of the country in which they are based.

For more information, please visit www.globalhealth.gov.

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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.

Last revised: January 12, 2009