The World Bank has approved a US$55.62m aid programme in Vietnam, that will as a priority develop traditional healthcare medicines in the country. Under the 2014–18 programme, the World Bank will funnel money through the Vietnamese government to build the administrative and policy-making capacities of key medicine development bodies.
These include the National Institute of Medicine Materials (NIMM), the National Hospital of Traditional Medicine (NHTM), National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED), Vietnam Academy of Sciences and Technology (VAST), Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST).
The goal, said the World Bank, is to enhance technology, quality and clinical trials of traditional medicinal products within Vietnam; boost the country’s innovation grant management capacity; and enhance technology transfer and commercialisation within the sector, notably through strengthening Vietnamese medicine intellectual property controls.
The money will also improve the project management, monitoring, reporting, auditing and evaluation skills of related agencies.
The World Bank said this Inclusive Innovation Project in Vietnam would provide ‘affordable technological solutions in areas such as traditional herbal medicine to improve the quality of life for the poor’. It said Vietnam has a strong capacity and strategic interest in traditional medicine manufacture, whose ‘professionalisation’ is a priority for the country’s 2011–20 socio-economic development strategy.