The Agency of Health Examination and Treatment (AHET), under the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on rehabilitation activities for the disabled with eight domestic and foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on June 2, state media reported. The NGOs include Vietnam Assistance for the Handicapped (VNAH), Fedération Handicap International (HI), the International Centre (IC), the Medical Committee Netherlands-Vietnam (MCNV), the Institute of Population, Health and Development (PHAD), the Action to the Community Development Centre (ACDC), the Sustainable Health Development Centre - VietHealth, and the Centre for Creative Initiatives in Health and Population (CCIHP). Accordingly, the VNAH and the AHET signed an agreement to improve the capacity of the rehabilitation sector, with a focus on a project on enforcing the rights to health check-ups and treatment and the rehabilitation of the disabled, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The HI will help refine the rehabilitation system and offer personnel training in the field, while the CCIHP will work with the AHET to enhance medical service quality for children living with autism, and improve their lives via developing early intervention models. At a seminar held on the same day, delegates offered opinions on the revised Law on Health Check-ups and Treatment, in particular Article 93. According to the national census on the disabled announced by the General Statistics Office in January 2019, there were 6.2 million people nationwide aged over two years old living with a disability, making up 7.09% of the population. Besides, nearly 12 million people, accounting for 13% of the population, are living with the handicapped. (VietnamNews, en.Vietnam Plus, en.Nhan Dan, suckhoedoisong)
