Administration Agreement for a Trust Fund of 11,686,500 Euro Signed

Dr Markus Cornaro, Ambassador and Head of the Delegation of the European Commission to Vietnam and Mr Klaus Rohland, Director of the World Bank in Vietnam on July 5 signed the Administration Agreement for a Trust Fund of €11,686,500 to purchase health packages for the poor of the Northern Uplands and Central Highlands.

The Trust Fund, which will be managed by the World Bank, is part of a larger project named HEMA between the European Commission (EC) and the Government of Vietnam (GOV) with a total value of €19,400,000.

Building on the EC funded “Health System Development Project”, which was implemented during the period of 1998-2005, the HEMA project is designed to ensure the provision of high quality preventive, curative and promotive care in the Northern Uplands mountainous provinces of Dien Bien, Son La, Lai Chau and the Central Highlands provinces of Gia Lai and Kon Tum where majority of local population are poor ethnic minority people. This will be done through the effective implementation of the GOV’s Strategy for the Provision of Health care for the Poor (as stipulated in particular in the Decision 139 of the Prime Minister and the new Decree 63 of the Government).

The HEMA project, with an EC grant of €18,000,000 and a €1,400,000 contribution from the GOV, will focus on activities at both policy-development and implementation levels.

 

The Trust Fund is expected to start in 01 January 2007 and will run until the end of HEMA project which is scheduled for 31 December 2010. It will be part of the external assistance of the European Commission to Vietnam, which is averaging €40 million per year.