New York(VNA) – Vietnam has been aware of the significance of the early epidemic preparedness andresponse through the strengthening of the health caresystem from the central to local levels, Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang, PermanentRepresentative of Vietnam to the UN has affirmed.

Giang was addressingthe launching ceremony of the World Disasters Report2022, themed “Trust, equality and local action – Lessons from the COVID-19pandemic to avert the next global crisis” in New York on April 19.

The report was jointly introduced by theVietnamese and Australian Permanent Missions to the UN, and the InternationalFederation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

The ambassador saidthat at UN forums, Vietnam pushed for the UN General Assembly to chooseDecember 27 every year as the International Day of Epidemic Preparedness,thereby enhancing the international community's readiness to respond early andfully to possible future epidemics.

Together withAustralia and other countries, Vietnam has persuaded the UN General Assembly toadopt a resolution on holding a high-level meeting on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response and will continue to actively participate in thepreparation process for the meeting.

Ambassador Giang heldthat the IFRC's recommendations are worth considering, which can contribute tostrengthening the global health structure to better respond to future healthrisks. People need to be at the centre of policies on epidemic preparedness and response and play an important role in implementing thesepolicies, he said, adding that handling fake news and providing timely andaccurate information to the public about epidemics and government efforts arealso important to this effort.

The Vietnamese representative said that the international community shouldfocus on dealing with inequality in access to vaccines, diagnosis and treatmentof diseases.

Vietnam appreciatesthe support of the UN and international partners during the COVID-19 pandemic, underliningthe need to provide developing countries with easier access to advanced medicaltechnology through technology transfer.

Vietnam believes thatstrengthening national health capacity at the grassroots level will play a corerole in responding to future epidemics, which can be achieved through increasedinvestment in infrastructure, equipment and personnel training. Policies toensure socio-economic development, social security and people's lives alsoeffectively support epidemic prevention and control efforts, he added.
 
The World Disasters Report 2022 underscores that the world’s preparedness aheadof the COVID-19 was inadequate, underlining the need to build people'sconfidence in the ability to respond to disasters, address inequalities inaccess to medicines and health care among countries as well as differentregions within a country, and strengthen capacity and role of local communitiesin handling health challenges.

It noted that the coronavirus pandemic hasbeen the biggest disaster in living memory, by almost any measure. Over 6.5million people are confirmed to have died in less than 3 years – or about 1 in1,000 people by the most conservative estimates – an order of magnitude largerthan that of any recorded earthquake, drought or hurricane.

Participants at theevent hailed the efforts of Vietnam, Australia and the IFRC, holding thatrecommendations in the report are helpful for UN member states in engaging inand promoting major process this year, especially the mid-term review of theImplementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the UNGeneral Assembly High-Level Meeting on PandemicPrevention, Preparedness and Response./.