Colonel Nguyen Van Giang (centre), Deputy Director of the Ministry of National Defence’s Department of Military Medicine, is in Brussels for the 44th International Committee of Military Medicine (ICMM) World Congress. (Photo: VNA)

The event marks the ICMM’s 100th anniversary, the celebrations of which were postponed last year because of COVID-19.

This event provides Vietnam with an opportunity to share its experience in the field, said Colonel Nguyen Van Giang, Deputy Director of the Ministry of National Defence’s Department of Military Medicine, who led the Vietnamese delegation.

It is focusing its discussions on the global pressing issues, such as fighting epidemics, particularly COVID-19; future trends in surgery; battlefield emergency care; infection control; nursing; and shock resuscitation, he said.

One of the presentations sparking interest at this year’s event came from Belgium’s Queen Astrid Military Hospital. It introduced the “phage therapy” which uses bacteriophages to treat bacterial infections. It is expected to be an alternative to antibiotics when bacteria develop resistance.

The new method can help combat the rise of antibiotic resistance which is now viewed as a major global public health issue, said General Pierre Neirinckx, Deputy Secretary General of the ICMM.

Founded in Brussels in 1921, the ICMM now has 119 military medical units from different countries and territories worldwide.