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Thank you to the Ministry of Health and the Viet Nam Young Physicians Association for organizing this important rally ahead of World Health Day on Monday, the 7th of April
The theme this year is “Healthy beginnings, hopeful futures”.
It reminds us that, when we prioritise the health of newborns and mothers, we ensure more hopeful futures for families, communities, society and the economy.
Viet Nam has made very impressive progress on safeguarding the lives of the youngest members of society and their mothers.
This progress – due to better health care, childhood vaccination, nutrition, water, sanitation and grass roots health care – is thanks to the leadership and commitment of the Government, the guidance of the Ministry of Health, the expertise and dedication of health-care workers at every level, and the close collaboration with other agencies.
This is important because improving newborn and maternal health leads to a stronger, healthier society and economic progress. In low- and middle-income countries, every US$ 1 invested in maternal and newborn health is estimated to yield a return of up to US$ 20.
WHO is proud to have supported these efforts to keep babies and mothers safe for almost 5 decades in Viet Nam.
In recent years, under the leadership of the Government, WHO has helped to:
- develop and deliver national policies and technical guidelines on maternal, newborn and child health
- assess the quality of care, and
- support the implementation of what we call early essential newborn care - a package of simple, cost-effective interventions which save lives.
However, our work is not yet done.
Pregnancy and childbirth should be a time of joy, but for too many families, it still ends in tragedy. The life of every mother and every newborn is precious. So, we must do everything possible to close remaining gaps in maternal and newborn care.
Here I would like to briefly mention 4 priority actions for doing this:
- First, continuing to invest in improving access to quality care for all mothers and newborns, especially in remote highland, mountainous, and disadvantaged areas.
- Second is improving the quality of care, by supporting ongoing training and upskilling of health-care workers, and establishing mechanisms to monitor quality.
- The third action is to ensure uninterrupted access to water, sanitation, soap, single-use towels or dryers, and cleaning supplies, as well as essential medicines and supplies.
- And finally, we should harness technology – like digital health information systems – to improve quality and efficiency of care, and help give decision makers the data they need to make evidence-based decisions.
Viet Nam’s experience shows that we can reduce preventable maternal and newborn deaths - and WHO is proud to support these efforts.
Investing in mother and child health is not just about survival; it is about ensuring a bright and hopeful future for women and their children – and therefore a bright and hopeful future for Viet Nam.
Happy World Health Day!
Xin cảm ơn!