At a meeting between representatives of the WHO and Vietnam in Geneva on innovation in the COVID-19 fight, WHO Assistance Director General Dr. Mariangela Simao lauded the cooperation of the Vietnamese Government in medical sector and efforts to promote innovation, especially ideas of youngsters such as Vihelm “mobile isolation” hats, thus seeking new solutions to protect people’s health amid COVID-19.

The WHO welcomed the intention of the Vihelm creators in joining the COVID-19 Technologies Access Pool (C-TAP), a joint initiative by the WHO and Costa Rica.

Illustrative image (internet)

For his part, Deputy Health Minister Do Xuan Tuyen said that Vietnam welcomes the C-TAP initiative that aims to strengthen international solidarity in effectively coping with COVID-19. By encouraging science-technology initiatives in COVID-19 control and honouring the global solidarity spirit by countries responding to the Solidarity Call to Action, the C-TAP has drawn the involvement of and contributions by creators and technology firms to the global anti-pandemic efforts, he noted.

He said that so far, many innovative ideas have been developed and applied in Vietnam, including Vihelm, an air purification device that helps protect the respiratory system. The creators proposed the use of the device instead of traditional quarantine.

The Vihelm invention team has shared the product design for free and is ready to support technology transfer through C-TAP to facilitate access to Vihelm, he said, adding that their contribution to C-TAP represents the international solidarity against COVID-19, which is welcomed by both the WHO and the Ministry of Health of Vietnam.

Tuyen expressed his belief that with the coordination of the WHO and the active engagement of countries, inventors and scientists with strong sense of international solidarity, the C-TAP will continue to grow with many applicable scientific studies and practical products to defeat the pandemic.

The official affirmed that Vietnam is willing to join the C-TAP to share its open inventions and transfer technologies to the world to deal with the pandemic and other diseases.

Following the meeting, which took place after the recent visit by President Nguyen Xuan Phuc to the WHO, WHO experts worked in detail with the Vihelm invention team on a number of technical issues related to the WHO’s evaluation process on medical products to put Vihelm into the list of shared open inventions as part of the C-TAP, enabling the transfer of Vihelm production technology to producers in other countries, thus contributing to the global efforts in COVID-19 response./.