Speech by Ms. Caitlin Wiesen, UNDP Resident Representative in Viet Nam at the orientation, inception and planning workshop for the sustainable health in procurement project (SHiPP)

May 24, 2019

Event: Viet Nam orientation, inception and planning workshop for the sustainable health in procurement project (SHiPP)
Date: 24th-25th May 2019

H.E. Professor. Nguyen Truong Son, Deputy Minister of Health,
Ramon San Pascual, Executive Director, Healthcare Without Harm South East Asia
Colleagues from Departments of the MOH, MONRE, Oncological Hospital, and Private Pharmaceutical Manufacture
Colleagues from UN agencies in Viet Nam, UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub, UNDP Ukraine, and from partner organization Health Care Without Harm.

I am delighted to welcome you to this important Orientation and Inception Workshop to roll out of “the Sustainable Procurement in the Heath Sector Initiative (SPHS)”in Viet Nam, through the implementation of the “ Sustain Health in Procurement Project – ShiPP”. This project is jointly implemented by UNDP and Healthcare Without Harm (HCWH) over the period 2018-2021 in 10 countries. We would like to thank the Government of Sweden for generous financial support to this important and meaningful project.

At this Inception workshop we will discuss  the link between health procurement, health and environmental impacts, examine current procurement policies, strategies and actions in public and private sector, identify interventions to integrate both environmental and social sustainability into procurement across all stages of the supply chain and procurement processes, and more importantly discuss how to best implement these interventions in Viet Nam.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Although the health sector with its key function of providing health care services plays crucial role in ensuring human wellbeing, there is  still evidence that during the course of delivering services, certain practices can negatively affect the health of people and the environment such as exposure to biological or chemical agents, risks from improper waste management, plastic and non-degradable products, and emission of greenhouse gases  into the environment contributing to global climate change.

In the efforts of mitigate above-mentioned critical risks, public procurement has been identified as an  entry point for promoting more sustainable production and consumption patterns. Adopting sustainable procurement practices governments and international development partners can be drivers for a major shift towards green economies. The health sector should not be an exception while sustainable health procurement can be a key strategy to push demand for sustainable production and waste management within the health facilities globally. Our lessons learnt show that sustainable and responsible procurement practices can be key solutions for mitigating the risks while it helped  reduce at least 65 percent of the carbon footprint of England’s National Health Service and 82 percent of the carbon footprint of UNDP-administered Global Fund for HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis projects in Tajikistan.

In this regard, The SHiPP project aims to promote sustainability in the health sector supply chain to improve human health and reduce greenhouse gases, resource depletion, and chemical pollution.

We are pleased to see many legislation and regulations have been adopted relevant to the intervention designated in this project. Namely, the law on environment protection with its article 24 “Eco-friendly production and consumption”, the national strategy on Green Growth, the Regulation of Management of Hazardous Waste

Ladies and gentlemen,
Over the last decade, UNDP has been supporting Viet Nam in its efforts of mitigation and adaptation with climate change and environment health. These include a number of initiatives in green growth, , management of POPs and Sound Harmful Chemicals,   and green chemistry., etc.

UNDP has also engaged with the Viet Nam Health sector over the last 10 years in related areas through a number of interventions. A GEF funded joint programme involving UNDP, WHO, and Healthcare Without Harm titled “Demonstrating and Promoting Best Techniques and Practices for Reducing Health-Care Waste to Avoid Environmental Releases of Dioxins and Mercury” over the years 2007-2011 developed considerable policies on waste management within the health care facilities. Recently, we launched an innovative project to develop a Dengue Early Warning Model forecasting Satellite-based System (D-MOSS) for Viet Nam.

I am happy to inform you that UNDP and MOH has signed a Memorandum of Understanding, which enables UNDP to provide more technical support and services to the health sector in coming years and the Project we launch today is  part of this collaboration framework.

Distinguish guess
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is committed to assisting governments in achieving Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through aligning with government priorities, including those concerning improving access to quality healthcare.

UNDPs key capacity building support on procurement in the health sector under this Project, is among the key entry points for implementation of the SDG12 “promoting responsible and sustainable production and consumption patterns” and SDG3 through mitigating environmental impact of health sector operations. I am confident that the project will help reduce a significant proportion of the health sector’s greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), chemical pollution and will also contribute to addressing social dimensions (SDG5, SDG8) of sustainability in the sector.

Finally, I would appreciate your active participation in the workshop discussions and provide your valuable contribution to the project plans of implementation. I wish you all a very successful workshop that will produce a practical and concrete action plan. Wish you all good health.

Thank you.