Vietnam and IOM promote regional cooperation to improve migrants' health

ABO/NDO- An international conference on improving the access of migrants, especially transboundary ones, to healthcare services was held in Hanoi on June 26.

The event was organised by the Vietnamese Ministry of Health and the ASEAN Secretariat with support from the IOM and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

It attracted over 160 officials, experts, and scholars from ASEAN member countries who attended both in person and via videoconference.

According to reports delivered at the event, ASEAN has long been a source, a point of transit, or a destination of migrants and their families. It has the third biggest number of international migrants in Asia, after India and China.

Vietnamese nurses prepare to go to work in Japan (Photo: VNA).

Speaking at the conference, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Lien Huong emphasised the need to share experience, initiatives, and policy models to strengthen cooperation among ASEAN members, as well as between ASEAN and partners to improve migrants’ health.

IOM Chief of Mission in Vietnam Park Mi-hyung applauded the cooperation between the IOM and the Health Ministry.

She also highlighted the progress made by the IOM and ASEAN countries in promoting action plans on migrants’ health in accordance with the Global Compact for Migration.

Migrants’ health is one of the bloc’s priorities under the ASEAN Post-2015 Health Development Agenda, particularly ASEAN Health Cluster 3 on strengthening health systems and access to care.

(Source: NDO)