UNDP supports Vietnam in COVID-19 fight

UNDP Resident Representative Caitlin Wiesen hands over the surgical masks to representatives from the Ministry of Health. (Photo: UNDP Vietnam)

Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – The
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on April 12 donated 20,000
to Vietnam’s Ministry of Health () to help
protect health care workers on the frontlines of fighting the 
pandemic.

Handing over the masks to the
Ministry of Health, UNDP Resident Representative Caitlin Wiesen congratulated Vietnam for
its success in combating COVID19, with more than half of the COVID-19 patients
fully recovered.

She reiterated the UNDP’s
commitment to support this effort, building on the existing memorandum of
understanding signed between UNDP and MoH supporting the health sector on
readiness in response to climate change and capacity building for centralised
procurement.

“The global COVID-19 pandemic has
triggered a shortage of critical personal protective equipment, putting health
care workers at risk,” she said.

“UNDP is helping the Ministry
of Health procure critically needed personal protective equipment (PPE) and
other medical supplies to support doctors, nurses and health staff at the
frontline of this crisis”.

“We highly appreciate UNDP’s
present of 20,000 masks for health and its assistance in procuring N95 masks
for the disease prevention and control work,” said Nguyen Nam Lien, Director
General of the MoH’s Department of Planning and Finance.

UNDP has been working closely
with relevant ministries and UN organisations to support Vietnam
to respond to COVID-19, as part of its mission to eradicate poverty,
reduce inequalities and build resilience to crisis and shocks.

In response to COVID-19, the UNDP
is working with the Ministry of Health and WHO in the communication campaign
‘Spreading the word – #LeaveNoOneBehind’ to reach out to ethnic minority
people and people with disabilities. The campaign promotes COVID-19 prevention
messages through animation and other communication means in ethnic minority and
sign languages.

In addition, UNDP in
collaboration with UNWomen is conducting a rapid assessment of economic impacts
of the crisis by surveying about 600 vulnerable households and 500 micro-,
small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). This will contribute to the
COVID-19 Impact Assessment led by the National Centre for Information and
Forecast of the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

In the longer term, will
look at innovative ways to support Vietnam to better prevent and manage such
crises and ensure the country makes full use of the lessons learned from this
crisis to build back better./.