Vietnam's success story against COVID-19

Thi Yen Chi Nguyen (called Chi in her language) is a current student (2021) in MPH European Public Health at ScHARR, under the Erasmus Mundus Excellent Scholarship. Previously trained in Public Health (BSc) and Epidemiology (MSc) at the University of Basel, Switzerland, Chi has five years of work experience in public health preventive programs, public engagement projects, and clinical research with underprivileged communities across low-middle income countries in Africa and Asia. 

Her main research interests are infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance, and applied health data science.

With an enthusiasm for community development and the goal of developing into a global health expert, Chi’s current work has two foci. One is using an evidence-based approach to understand and mitigate the biological and behavioural risk of disease transmission. The other is on health technology, and how it can be utilized to provide accessible, affordable, cost-effective healthcare to all.

Outside of research activities, Chi is actively involved in several taskforces to promote voices and contributions of young public health professionals: SheffWHO 2020 as Theme Guide Director, Erasmus Mundus Association as Vietnam Country Representative, the Global Burden of Diseases Network as National Collaborator, and the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker as Data Contributor.

Chi, along with fellow European Public Health student Mashkur Abdulhamid Isa, has published work on Vietnam's COVID 19 response in the journal Public Health In Practice, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhip.2021.100132

Authors and affiliations

Chi Nguyen Thi Yen (a,b) Catherine Hermoso (c), Elaine May Laguilles (c), Louise Elaine De Castro (c), Shera Marie Camposano (c) Noel Jalmasco (c), Kim Aira Cua (c), Mashkur Abdulhami Isa (b), Edikan Friday Akpan (d), Tuan Phong Ly (e), Shyam Sundar Budhathoki (f), Attaullah Ahmadi (g,h), Don Eliseo Lucero-Prisno III (i,j)

a Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, P.O. Box, CH-4002, Basel, Switzerland

b School of Health and Related Research, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom

c College of Medicine, Bicol University, Daraga, Albay, Philippines

d Faculty of Pharmaceutical Science, University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

e School of Tourism Management, Macao Institute for Tourism Studies, Macao, SAR, China

f Department of Primary Care and Public Health, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom

g Medical Research Center, Kateb University, Kabul, Afghanistan

h Global Health Focus Asia, Kabul, Afghanistan

i Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom

j Faculty of Management and Development Studies, University of the Philippines (Open University), Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines

Abstract

Vietnam's close proximity to China where the COVID-19 outbreak started made it one of the countries expected to have widespread transmission of the virus. However, the country opposed this expectation and attained low spread of COVID-19 infection due to its proactive approaches in containing the disease. As of March 11, 2021, Vietnam has a total of 2529 confirmed cases, equivalent to 26 cases per one million population-compared to the global rate of 15,223 cases. The low-cost model approach used by Vietnam in dealing with previous public health issues, tackle the importance of a strategic public health system, good governance, and citizen cooperation in the fight against COVID 19 pandemic. This paper aims to analyze Vietnam's achievement in its early and continued success in combating COVID-19 by taking into account various aspects of its health system and experience on outbreaks that have previously occurred and how these can be applied to current COVID-19 responses.