The US Agency for International Development (USAID) and UNICEF marked their recent provision of US$1million in life-saving equipment and vaccine administration supplies to the country to assist with its COVID-19 response with a ceremony held on March 25 in Hanoi.
USAID and UNICEF provide life-saving COVID-19 supplies to Vietnam.
The equipment and supplies, all of which was funded by USAID and delivered through UNICEF between November, 2021, and February this year, includes 2.5 million syringes, 125,000 N95 face masks, and 250 portable patient monitors. The donation has come at a timely moment amid the nation responding to the current Omicron-fueled wave.
In attendance at the ceremony was Ann Marie Yastishock, mission director of USAID in Vietnam, Rana Flowers, representative of UNICEF to Vietnam, and Vice Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan.
"The United States and Vietnam have built on decades of collaboration and friendship, drawing on each other’s strengths and capacities, to jointly identify and address the highest priorities when responding to COVID-19," said Yastishock.
"USAID’s steadfast commitment to supporting Vietnam’s COVID-19 response, including through partners such as UNICEF, is demonstrated in this ceremony today marking our recent donation of US$1 million in life-saving equipment and supplies," the USAID mission director added.
“Today is about reaffirming that while enormous strides have been made, we are not yet at the end of the pandemic — and UNICEF continues to work hand-in-hand with the Ministry of Health of Vietnam and our key partners — to not just focus on the roll out of safe vaccines but to support in every way we can the medical equipment and medicines that are critical to saving lives from COVID-19,” said Flowers.
Throughout the COVID-19 global pandemic, USAID and UNICEF have worked in tandem with the Ministry of Health to bolster Vietnamese communication and community engagement, whilst also striving to improve infection prevention, control, and response efforts. UNICEF, as the primary local COVAX partner, has strived to bring in US Government-supported COVID-19 vaccines, with this currently totaling more than 33 million doses.
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