The dialogue was held by the Ministry of Health (MoH), in coordination with the World Economic Forum, the Harvard Medical School and other partners.

The dialogue aimed at sharing challenges and opportunities in primary healthcare and referrals regarding the grassroots healthcare system. The dialogue focused on initiatives, projects and investment guided by the MoH, and aimed to reach agreement among the MoH and its partners about a common vision for primary healthcare in Viet Nam.

Speaking at the dialogue, Deputy Minister Son said primary healthcare was a topic receiving a lot of attention at global and national forums.

On October 25, 2018, in Astana in Kazakhstan, the Astana Declaration was officially adopted at the Global Forum on Primary Healthcare. United Nations member countries agreed to focus on primary healthcare as an important step to improve healthcare for their populations.

At the forum, a representative of the MoH said improving the community’s health played an important role in the welfare system and socio-economic development.

Many ASEAN countries have given priority to healthcare and since then helped patients and healthcare in general. Viet Nam has met most of the Millennium Development Goals and has witnessed impressive progress in reaching the target of healthcare for the whole population.

In Viet Nam, the role of primary healthcare has been recognised and received instruction for strategy and political commitment, Son said.

Resolution 20-NQ/TW included targets to implement healthcare and health insurance for everyone. Every resident is taken care of and is equal in rights and responsibilities in taking part in health insurance and enjoying medical services.

The country implemented project 2384 on building and developing the grassroots healthcare system and running a pilot programme covering 26 wards in eight provinces and cities.

However, primary healthcare still faces challenges, such as reducing expenses and improving effectiveness and capacity to supply healthcare services.

Experts said if the challenges were resolved, Viet Nam would become a model for the area as well as the world. To overcome the difficulties, Viet Nam is fully aware of the power of public-private partnership’s strength to achieve the target of universal healthcare by 2030 through strengthening primary healthcare. This approach will ensure equal access to high quality services.

The dialogue is an opportunity to urge discussion between the Government, academia, development partners, the private sector and enterprises about the best way to contribute and invest in implementing the vision for primary healthcare in Viet Nam.

Issues presented at the dialogue included the Government’s vision, strategy and priorities for primary healthcare to cover everyone by 2030, the renewal of primary healthcare, international experiences applied in Viet Nam, as well as residents’ and patients’ opinions about primary healthcare in the country.

“We have recorded significant achievements for the Millennium Development Goals, and we hope to continue to reach other sustainable development goals (SDG), especially medical ones,” Son said.

At present, the Vietnamese Government is prioritising the development of a strong and wide medical system and considers it a foundation for nationwide healthcare coverage.

The MoH named three pillars to support the primary healthcare system, including the programme of healthy Viet Nam, the programme of improving grassroots healthcare and programmes of national targets.

All the programmes should go together to achieve the best results.

Dessislava Dimitrova, head of Health Systems of the World Economic Forum, said Viet Nam was the leading country in nationwide healthcare coverage.

“We hope Viet Nam will create a wonderful model while cooperating with enterprises, associations and academia in reaching high quality and affordable healthcare for everyone,” she said.

The role of the World Economic Forum is a neutral forum to promote cooperation among different partners. It also meets the growing demand of Governments in cooperation with the private sector and other partners to support the development of healthcare systems, she said./.