General manager of Abbott Vietnam Douglas Kuo was awarded with the Health Minister’s Medal Memorabilia, which is given to recognize individuals who serve over 20 years in the healthcare industry with significant contributions to healing, caring, protecting, and improving people’s health.

“As a global healthcare company, Abbott’s mission is to help people all over the world live their best possible life through the power of health. In Vietnam over the last years, Abbott is honoured to partner with MoH in addressing Vietnam’s healthcare needs at the national scale through many initiatives that help the Vietnamese people build better lives and stronger communities,” Kuo said.

Vietnam is among the fastest ageing populations, with a pressing need to achieve quality at scale and implement preventive health programmes.

Along with the government’s efforts, contributions from companies are needed to tackle the national healthcare challenges. A prime example of that contribution is Abbott Vietnam’s initiatives, which are tailored to the needs of the country and carried out through collaborations with local organisations to improve public healthcare and the quality of life.

For over 20 years, Abbot Vietnam has consistently been in Vietnam with its long-term commitment in enhancing the people’s quality of life.

Along with the company’s breakthrough products – in diagnostics, medical devices, nutrition, and established pharmaceuticals – that help enhance the quality of heath for Vietnamese, the company also works with local stakeholders, including governments, to anticipate and stay ahead of the country’s unique healthcare challenges, responding with local solutions that meet consumers’ changing needs.

One of the company’s key commitments is to improve maternal health, and to specifically address the high levels of stunting malnutrition in children caused by nutritional deficiencies in mothers during pregnancy and lactation. Abbott partnered with the MoH to combat this issue and work towards the “improvement of nutritional status for pregnant women and lactating mothers”.

Using its wealth of nutrition expertise, Abbott collaborated with MoH to establish national nutrition guidelines for pregnant women and lactating mothers which was launched in March this year. 

From July-October, the ministry disseminated these groundbreaking national maternal nutrition guidelines to healthcare professionals in hospitals across Vietnam through a series of workshops with support from Abbott.

In 2016, Abbott partnered with MoH to support the ministry on another pressing need in Vietnam: improving the quality of clinical nutrition in hospitals.

This project, part of Vietnam’s broader National Strategy on Nutrition, focuses on developing a quality improvement programme (QIP) for clinical nutrition in hospitals. To date, the QIP has been implemented in seven key hospitals nationwide, bringing tangible benefits to patients.

The company is also actively supporting Vietnam’s priorities in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), healthy ageing and food safety. These initiatives and contributions are linked to the overall goals and objectives of MoH.

The commitment to improving the health and well-being of patients and consumers ranges in a variety of ways, including community outreach activities.

In Vietnam, Abbott and its foundation, the Abbott Fund, have provided more than VND230 billion ($10.2 million) in grants and product donations to help people build better lives and stronger communities.

By giving leverage to its extensive expertise in nutrition, as well as other areas of healthcare, Abbott has been able to have a meaningful impact on public healthcare across the globe. 

The company remains committed to investing in the long-term health of Vietnam and sees many more opportunities for partnerships and developments in the future.