A gesture emphasizing the importance of mental health care for children from Queen Mathilde of Belgium

The presence of Queen Mathilde of Belgium at the National Children's Hospital has contributed to affirming the close cooperation between Vietnam and Belgium in the field of public health, especially child mental health.

Queen Mathilde of Belgium with doctors and nurses from the National Children's Hospital.

Accompanying Queen Mathilde on her visit to the Central Children's Hospital were Elisabeth Degryse, Minister and President of the French-speaking Belgian community of Wallonie-Bruxelles; and Pascale Delcomminette, Director General of the Wallonie-Bruxelles Foreign Service and Director General of the Wallonie Investment and Foreign Trade Promotion Agency.

Welcoming Queen Mathilde were Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan and Director of the National Children's Hospital Tran Minh Dien.

Over the past 30 years, Belgium and Vietnam have had many effective cooperation programs in this field. Currently, the National Children's Hospital is participating in a collaborative project with Léonard de Vinci College.

This project is part of the 2022-2024 cooperation program between the French-speaking Belgian community of Wallonie-Bruxelles and Vietnam on human resource training, collaborative research on developmental disorders and the application of Belgian therapeutic models in Vietnam, as well as support for improving facilities, providing medical equipment, and upgrading therapy spaces at the National Children's Hospital.

Queen Mathilde is a psychologist and speech therapist, and also the Honorary President of UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund). The Queen has a deep interest in health issues, particularly children's health. This visit is an important opportunity to highlight the long-standing cooperation between Vietnam and Belgium in this field, and to promote awareness of the importance of mental health care for children in Vietnam.

Queen Mathilde of Belgium is seen chatting with a young patient receiving treatment at the National Children's Hospital.

At the National Children's Hospital, the Queen of Belgium met with doctors, psychologists, and patients. The Queen, along with Minister Dao Hong Lan, participated in an art therapy session – painting with teenagers; and observed a psychomotor therapy session at the Psychiatry Department. The Queen expressed her concern and spent time chatting with and inquiring about the young patients receiving treatment at the National Children's Hospital.

Medical cooperation between Vietnam and the Kingdom of Belgium has been ongoing since the 1990s. One of the first joint projects in the health sector was the "Malaria Prevention and Control in Hoa Binh Province" project, which ran from 1996 to 2001.

This project has yielded very good results; over the six years of implementation, the malaria situation in Hoa Binh province has improved significantly, and the malaria prevention and control network throughout the province has been strengthened in terms of infrastructure, equipment, and staff capacity.

Both sides highly appreciated the results achieved through cooperation projects between Vietnamese universities, institutes, and hospitals with their Belgian counterparts in the healthcare sector.

These projects play a highly positive role for Vietnam in the cause of caring for and protecting the health of its people, thereby promoting economic and social development and deep international integration, contributing to creating a foundation for strengthening and developing cooperative partnerships between Vietnam and the Wallonie-Bruxelles region in particular, and the Kingdom of Belgium in general.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/cu-chi-nhan-manh-tam-quan-trong-cua-viec-cham-soc-suc-khoe-tam-than-cho-tre-em-tu-hoang-hau-bi-mathilde-309640.html