VietNamNet - The Ministry of Health (MoH) opened a conference in Ha Noi late June to better the management and utilisation of this important financial source for its rural health projects.

Participants at the "Strengthening the quality of ODA-funded project management" conference pointed out that many ODA-funded projects have been completed later than scheduled, which is largely due to deficient preparation work, including project planned and designed by Vietnamese officials, as well as, a lack of capital from the government.

However, health officials also said that time-consuming tender procedures and prolonged capital disbursement by international donors are partly to blame for the low effectiveness in ODA-funded projects.

It is highly recommended that ODA management should be decentralised to the grassroots levels, said Minister of Health Tran Thi Chung Chien. The Minister further said that relevant agencies should strengthen the capacity of their staff in ODA management and increase the cooperation with beneficiary localities in the projects' planning and design phase.

Minister Chien also called for international donors to streamline tender procedures and conduct timely disbursement in order to make projects to be conducted in timely manner.

Participants at the conference agreed that ODA and foreign loans have become very important financial sources for the MoH's projects, which mainly aim to improve access to healthcare services for rural people from communal to district levels nationwide, and to strengthen the capacity of medical practitioners.

The World Bank (WB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Health Organisation (WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Governments of Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Luxembourg and Japan, have so far funded many of MoH's projects on tuberculosis and malaria control and prevention.

The donors also supported the Vietnamese health sector to conduct a wide range of programmes on HIV/AIDS and non-infectious disease prevention, upgrade clinical facilities, provide training on reproductive health, nutrition, food safety and policy-building work.

(Source; VNA)