Russia and North Korea have agreed to cooperate on healthcare, medical education and science, Russian state news agency TASS reported.
Under the agreement, Russia and North Korea will work together in areas such as child health, healthy lifestyles and the fight against infectious diseases.
In particular, they will focus on the fight against tuberculosis, human immunodeficiency virus infection, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, and hepatitis; prevention and treatment of cardiovascular, endocrine, oncological, among other diseases, the news agency reported on Tuesday.
They will also cooperate in training and retraining of medical professionals and regulation of the distribution of medicines and medical devices.
TASS cited a document published on the Russian legal information portal as saying that the cooperation “takes into account the principle of equality and mutual benefit, and implements measures to ensure the sanitary and epidemiological well-being of the people in accordance with the laws of the parties.”
Russia and North Korea have been stepping up cooperation on all fronts since summits between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Russia in September last year and in North Korea in June this year.
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Low vaccination rates
Choi Kyu-bin, a research fellow at Seoul-based Institute for Human Rights Studies at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said in a report that North Korea’s vaccination rate was less than 50% for most of last year.
Citing data from the World Health Organisation and the U.N. Children’s Fund, Cho said North Korea had maintained vaccination coverage rates of more than 90% for many vaccines prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but since it closed its borders in 2020, there has been a clear downward trend in vaccination rates.
In 2023, coverage was below 50% for many vaccines, except for the TB vaccine, and none of the 11 vaccines required for children under one year of age had coverage of more than 90%.
For example, coverage of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis primary, or DTP1, vaccine, which children should receive, halved from 98% in 2019 to 41% in 2023.
“Low vaccination rates put children’s health at risk,” Choi said, urging North Korea to step up access to international organizations to ensure smooth vaccine procurement and immunization.
Edited by RFA Staff.