The Vietnam Peacekeeping Centre under the Defence Ministry was established in December 2013 and upgraded to become the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations in January 2018. It has facilitated the training of human resources for the mission. 

Vietnam began joining in UN peacekeeping operations in 2014. In its initial years, the country sent staff and liaison officers and observers to several African nations, including South Sudan and the Central African Republic.

In October 2018, Vietnam’s first level-2 field hospital, the first-ever independent unit of Vietnam to join the UN peacekeeping mission, deployed two groups of 63 personnel to South Sudan. On October 1, the first group with 32 members set off for the African country. The second group with 31 doctors left Ho Chi Minh City for the mission on October 15.

In his online speech delivered from the UN headquarters, UN Under-Secretary-General for Field Support Atul Khare said the deployment reflects Vietnam’s goodwill and responsibility toward the mission as well as its capacity to directly involve in the work, bringing peace and stability to people in difficult areas.

To date, the hospital has offered check-ups and treatment to hundreds of patients. 

On December 13, 2018, the Defence Ministry launched a training course for 70 staff members of the second level-2 field hospital to help them gear up for taking over from the first field hospital. 

The two hospitals have been designed to be ready to replace each other in peacekeeping operations. With diverse functions, they can also serve as mobile hospitals in emergency cases like disaster search and rescue in Vietnam, and take part in multilateral drills.-VNA