The European Union (EU) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have partnered to support several Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries by providing 20 million euros on health system strengthening for COVID-19 preparedness and response under the “South East Asia Health Pandemic Response and Preparedness Project”.
Under the MOH-EU-WHO partnership in Lao People’s Democratic Republic which was officially launched on 17 March 2021, the country will receive 2.8 million euros equalled to Lao Kip 32 billion for a period of three years. The event was attended by the Vice Minister of Health Assoc. Prof. Dr Phouthone Muangpak, EU Ambassador Ina Marčiulionytė, and WHO Representative Dr. Mark Jacobs.
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(From left) EU Ambassador Ina Marčiulionytė, Vice Minister of Health Assoc. Prof. Dr Phouthone Muangpak and WHO Representative Dr. Mark Jacobs at the launch event.
They highlighted the aims of the project which are to protect people’s health, especially for the most vulnerable, and to ensure their rights and access to health services, by strengthening health systems. At the same time, the project emphasises the importance of a regional approach by increasing collaboration among ASEAN countries.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Phouthone Muangpak said, “We are pleased to work with EU and WHO in Lao People’s Democratic Republic as they have both been very important partners during the COVID-19 pandemic. We look forward to working with them to strengthen the regional approach and collaboration that will build a stronger ASEAN as we work together to recover from this pandemic.”
EU Ambassador Marčiulionytė said, “To address the health and socio-economic impacts of the pandemic, the EU has reoriented programmes to focus on strengthening regional cooperation on access to information, equipment, and vaccines which is essential for overcoming this crisis. We are in this together and, as partners, we hope to emerge stronger together.”
The priorities of the project are in line with the country’s National COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan for Health 2020-2025. These include ensuring that COVID-19 cases continue to be detected rapidly by strengthening points of entry, emergency operation centres at central and provincial level, preparing for surge at quarantine and health facilities, increasing capacity for infection, prevention and control (IPC), water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and waste management.
The EU Ambassador also announced that The European Union and its Member States are highly committed to ensure that no one is left behind in the global vaccination campaign – COVAX Facility.
In this regard, “I am delighted to inform you that the President of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen announced during the recent G7 meeting that the Team Europe has to date provided € 2.2 billion to help 92 low and middle-income countries, including Lao PDR, to help gain access to COVID-19 vaccines. We are proud that the Team Europe is the largest contributor to COVAX” she said.
Additionally, the EU is very pleased that Lao will be receiving in the coming weeks the first batch of 480,000 doses of vaccines through the COVAX Facility.
Dr. Mark Jacobs, WHO Representative to Lao PDR said, “In the past year, WHO has provided extensive technical support to the Ministry of Health throughout the COVID-19 response and in the development and finalization of the National COVID-19 Strategic and Response Plan which is critical for partner coordination. This builds on our support over a number of years to help the country strengthen its health system and its preparedness to deal with threats like COVID-19. The partnership with the EU will be important in furthering this effort.”
The launch event was well attended
by local media, and staff from the Ministry of Health, EU and WHO.
More information
Click here to read the speech of WHO Representative Dr Mark Jacobs