President of Microsoft group Bill Gates said he was impressed by immunisation achievements in Vietnam and pledged more support to the country in immunisation and the control of infectious diseases and HIV.

During a working session with the Ministry of Public Health on April 2, the billionaire was briefed on the implementation of the national expanded immunisation programme.

Deputy Health Minister Trinh Quan Huan told Gates that Vietnam has eliminated polio and smallpox and is working hard to erase a number of other diseases under the World Health Organisation (WHO) list, including hepatitis B, cholera, typhoid and measles.

Vietnam has been recognised by WHO as having one of the highest rates of immunised children in the world as over 90% of under-one children vaccinated against major child-killed diseases.

Huan proposed that the Bill&Melinda Gates Foundation continue supporting Vietnam in eliminating measles as it is the biggest difficulty for the Vietnam health sector.

Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates are on a visit to Vietnam to examine activities using fundings from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the largest private aid donors in the world.

This is Bill Gates's second visit to Vietnam. His first visit was in late April of 2006 at the invitation of Prime Minister Phan Van Khai.

Gates said that this visit was aimed at learning Vietnam's ways in implementing health programmes to apply them in some African countries.

Also on April 2, Gates and his wife visited Gia Lam general hospital and a communal health station in Ha Noi's suburban Gia Lam district, a beneficiary of the foundation's assistance, to examine immunisation activities.

Gates is scheduled to have a working session with the Central Institute of Epidemic Prevention on April 3, focusing on immunisation programmes funded by the Bill&Melinda Gates Foundation. A project studying the necessary elements for the implementation of HPV injection for cervical cancer prevention in Vietnam is expected to be signed at the session.

Under this project, Vietnam will receive US$245,000 from the foundation, said Nguyen Tran Hien, head of the institute, adding that about 800 Vietnamese girls between 11-13 will benefit from the project. (VNA)