For many years, the health sector in Vietnam has been using the targeted approach to address specific health needs of its population. This proved to be effective as the country achieved quite remarkable results in controlling the rate of communicable diseases. The EU has been a steady partner to the Ministry of Health (MoH) supporting the sector since 1993. Being in the forefront of support, the E
U initiated a project called Health Sector Capacity Support Project (HSCSP), which marked the second generation of EU assistance to health. As advocated by the leaders of the MoH, one of its objectives was to prepare the sector for the receipt of a more integrated form of support by the EU, which later came as the Health Sector Policy Support Programme (HSPSP). Since December 2014, EU is implementing the Health Sector Policy Support Programme phase II: Towards Equity and Quality of Health Services in Vietnam – the largest EU Health Sector Budget Support Operation in Asia. The programme aims to sustain poverty alleviation and inclusive economic growth in Vietnam through the provision of the support for the development of the Vietnamese health care system, towards equity, efficiency and improved quality in line with country’s health sector strategy. The specific emphasis on equity will be given by focusing on 10 provinces considered to be the poorest: Lai Chau, Son La, Dien Bien, Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Ha Giang, Lao Cai, Cao Bang, Yen Bai and Dak Nong. The main actions will include
1. Budget Support
• Financial transfer of 100 million EUR over the period of 2015 -2017 to the budget of the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam;
• Continued policy dialogue between the EU Delegation and the Government on sector reform priorities;
• Continued dialogue between the EU Delegation and the other donors to coordinate and further align development cooperation activities to Vietnamese policies;
2. Complementary Support
• EU Health Facility to provide technical support to MoH in Vietnam in improving the quality and access to health care services
• Single donor Trust fund via the World Bank to contribute to the “Health Professional Education and Training Project (HPET)”
The EU Health Facility is supposed to support stakeholders in achieving the targets defined in the EU HSPSP2 in a flexible and coordinated manner, in supporting the reform of the health sector in Vietnam in line with EU policies. It will contribute to the reporting of the MoH and the EU Delegation for the EU HSPSP-2 tranches disbursements and further respond in a flexible and rapid manner to the need for short and medium term expertise, research and training needs of the various stakeholders in different areas, such as, but not limited to:
(1) health financing,
(2) health information systems and capacity related to statistics and data management,
(3) health budgeting, planning and decentralization,
(4) health policy dialogue,
(5) health services quality - accreditation/ delivery/ use/ assessment - for the poor and the near poor,
(6) health and insurance sector governance (anti-corruption and transparency), and
(7) maternal and child.
