Hongfei Long¹, Zhenyu Ma²,Tran Thi Duc Hanh³, Hoang Van Minh³, Lal B. Rawal⁴, Dilshat S. Urmi⁵, Tazeen H. Jafar⁶, Shenglan Tang⁷ & Abu S. Abdullah⁸

Affiliations

¹Global Health Research Center, Duke Kunshan University, Kunshan, People's Republic of China
²School of Public Health, Guangxi Medical University, Guangxi, People's Republic of China
³Hanoi University of Public Health, Hanoi, Vietnam
⁴School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences, CQ University, Sydney Campus, Australia
⁵Global Health Research Center, Duke Kunshan University, Kunshan, People's Republic of China
⁶Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
⁷Global Health Research Center, Duke Kunshan University, Kunshan, People's Republic of China; Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
⁸Global Health Research Center, Duke Kunshan University, Kunshan, People's Republic of China; Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA; Boston University School of Medicine, Boston Medical

Abstract

The burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) continues to grow in Vietnam, and reducing the burden of NCDs is a national priority. This study explored perspective of community health workers (CHWs), known as Village Health Workers (VHWs) in Vietnam, and public health leaders towards potential of expanding VHWs’ role to deliver NCDs prevention and control services, and determined barriers and facilitators. We conducted focus group discussions (FGDs) with VHWs (n = 24) and in-depth interviews (IDIs) with public health administrators (n = 13). The findings show that VHWs in Vietnam deliver multiple public health services, including several NCDs related services. Perceived barriers include lack of policy support, shortages of trained health personnel, lack of training, imbalanced workload and inadequate remuneration. Perceived barriers include lack of policy support, shortages of trained health personnel, lack of training, imbalanced workload and inadequate remuneration. Facilitators include government commitment to NCDs prevention and control, priority on capacity building, professional recognition and provision of incentives with availability of appropriate resources. While additional quantitative studies are needed to supplement the current qualitative findings, the current results inform the policy and intervention development in engaging VHWs in the delivery of community-based NCDs prevention and control initiatives in Vietnam.

KEYWORDS: Village health workers (VHWs), community health workers (CHWs), non-communicable diseases (NCDs), Vietnam

Full-text link: Engaging village health workers in non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention and control in Vietnam: A qualitative study

Source: Center for Population Health Sciences (CPHS