United States Supports Training on Nursing for Vietnam’s Military Medical System

August 11, 2010

HANOI – With support from the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a training course is being held this week at Military Hospital 103 in Hanoi for 30 nurses from military and civilian medical institutions. The four-day training focuses on health assessment, with instruction by Associate Professor Benita Jeanne Walton-Moss of Johns Hopkins University.  Nurses will combine theory and hands-on experience to maximize the impact of the training.

This course is part of the collaboration between the U.S. Department of Defense and Vietnam’s Military Medicine Department (Ministry of Defense) under PEPFAR. Attending the opening ceremony on August 9, Senior Colonel Dr. Vu Quoc Binh, Deputy Director of the Military Medicine Department said, “This training is the first of its type and is laying the foundation for a new technical area of medical collaboration between the two militaries.” In the next five years, PEPFAR will continue to support the military medical system of Vietnam with many pre-service training activities, including nursing, as part of collaborative programming in blood safety; infection control; HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment; and health systems strengthening.

Also with PEPFAR support, the Harvard Medical School AIDS Initiative in Vietnam will provide training to over 30 medical doctors from northern military hospitals this week about preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission and tuberculosis/HIV co-infection. A similar training will be held in Ho Chi Minh City later this month for southern military hospitals.

Since 2004, the United States Government has provided over $400 million to support the delivery of comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment services in Vietnam. On July 22, 2010 in Hanoi, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vietnam Minister of Justice Ha Hung Cuong signed the Partnership Framework Agreement between the two Governments for HIV/AIDS prevention and control for 2010-2015.