The European Union (EU) will fund EUR114 million for the second phase of EU Health Sector Policy Support Program (EU-HSPSP-2) in Vietnam, up from EUR39.15 million it pledged for the first phase. An agreement on the new funding was signed by Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung and Europe Aid’s Director for Asia, Central Asia, Middle East/Gulf and Pacific Pierre Amilhat in Hanoi on Dec 4. This aims to support Vietnam in restructuring its health sector and implementing reform plans and programs for 2015-17 period. The EU-HSPSP-2 targets sustainable poverty reduction and harmony growth in Vietnam through assistance in boosting the health care sector towards fairness, efficiency and quality as set forth in the health sector development strategy. It focuses on speeding up the roadmap to promote the coverage of health care services nationwide and improve the service quality at local levels, thus easing the overload at central hospitals. On the same day, EU also launched a EUR400 million development cooperation program for Vietnam in the 2014-2020 period to help the Southeast Asian nation handle new challenges. At present, the EU provides the largest amount of grant to Vietnam. It is also Vietnam’s second biggest provider of official development assistance (ODA), with more than $11 billion in the 1996-2010 period. (chinhphu.vn Dec 4)
