Dr Kidong Park, the World Health Organization Representative in Viet Nam, presented his credentials to Mr Ha Kim Ngoc, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Viet Nam.
Dr Kidong Park assumed his role as the WHO Representative on 1 September 2017.
Dr Park applauded Viet Nam’s strong health system and progress made to control communicable diseases. Dr Park also welcomed the country’s achievements in the area of health financing and its firm commitment to reduce amongst others the burden of non-communicable diseases.
In welcoming the new WHO representative, the Deputy Minister stated that he looks forward to furthering collaboration with WHO mainly to revitalize the grassroots health system reform and tackle the issue of hospital overcrowding. He also expresses the need to collaborate with WHO and the UN in Viet Nam to attain the Sustainable Development Goals.
WHO will continue to work in close cooperation with Viet Nam.
Dr Park committed that WHO will continue to put the health of Viet Nam's people at the heart of its mandate. “WHO will continue to work in close cooperation with Viet Nam, building on decades of close collaboration and trust. We will continue to support Viet Nam to transform its health system into one that is responsive and resilient so that it can tackle both old and new health challenges and leave no one behind,” said Dr Park.
Dr Park brings with him extensive experience in global health, health policy and management, and strategic planning and evaluation. His international career in public health spans from high-level representative roles to technical work on communicable disease control and health system strengthening.