Knighting ceremony for the late doctor Carlo Urbani

The knighting ceremony for the late doctor Carlo Urbani

Attending the ceremony, on the side of the Italian Government were Mr. Antonio Alessandro, Ambassador of the Italian Republic to Vietnam, leaders of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Hue University. Attending the ceremony online were the World Health Organization representatives and the late doctor Carlo Urbani’s wife.

Dr. Carlo Urbani is an outstanding Italian doctor and a medical expert of the World Health Organization in Vietnam. He was the first to document the first cases of an entirely new infectious disease, later named severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and which claimed the life of Dr. Carlo Urbani.

To recognize and honor the heroic sacrifice of Dr. Carlo Urbani, the Italian Government has decided to sponsor the Carlo Urbani project focusing on improving the capacity of epidemiological surveillance, diagnosis and treatment of severe acute respiratory syndrome and other emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases in Vietnam, conducted from 2007 to 2012.

The knighting ceremony for Dr. Carlo Urbani is an occasion to honor his tremendous dedication and noble sacrifice in the detection, identification, and rapid response to emerging diseases, contributing to global health security.

In the late 1990s, Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Hue University began to establish cooperative relationships with universities and university hospitals in the Italian Republic. The cooperation relationship between Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Hue University, and the University of Sassari was raised to a new level when the Carlo Urbani Center Project, funded by the Italian Government, was constructed, focusing on improving epidemiological surveillance, diagnosis, and treatment of acute respiratory failure and emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases in Vietnam. The results achieved have maximized their effectiveness during the past 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

By Bach Chau