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Hanoi (VNA) – The Health Ministry’s Department of Medical
Examination and Treatment and the Antimicrobial Resistance Research
Centre of on September 9 signed a Memorandum of Understanding () on
cooperation in developing antimicrobial monitoring system in .
Under the MoU, the two sides will coordinate to develop an antimicrobial
resistance monitoring system in Vietnam, aiming to build a sustainable surveillance
structure through developing a software module and a cooperation framework, thus
creating a national report on antibiotic resistance and providing feedback on
infection control in the country.
Dr. Luong Ngoc Khue, head of the department, said antimicrobial resistance is an increasingly serious threat to
public health, requiring action coordination among countries.
Vietnam
was the first country in the Western Pacific region that developed and adopted
a national action plan on antimicrobial resistance in 2013, he said, adding the
country is establishing an antibiotic resistance surveillance network and
developing a national database on antibiotic resistance monitoring with the
support from a number of international partners.
According to the World Health Organisation, antimicrobial resistance has been
recognized as one of the leading global threats to human health in the 21st century due to the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria from one country to
another.
Globally in 2016, there were 490,000 cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. The
drug resistance is starting to complicate the fight against HIV and malaria.-VNA
Source: VietnamPlus