Measurement for change: establishment of an integrated non-communicable disease (NCD) surveillance system for Viet Nam

The aim of this project is to develop a sustainable system for surveillance of non-communicable disease (NCD) in Vietnam. The focus of initial action is on heart disease and stroke, diabetes mellitus and cancer. Primarily what is sought is a nationally coordinated system for assembling information on the incidence/prevalence of those chronic diseases and their modifiable risk factors, enabling these to be tracked over time in response to national strategies to prevent and manage NCD. The project has two further arms of healthy lifestyle intervention and monitoring clinical outcomes of NCD management.

To initiate the project, Dr Phung Ngoc Hai (Project Manager) was relocated to Hanoi for a year until June 2007. During that time an office for the project was established in the Department of Therapy in Hanoi and Dr Tran Thanh Huong, a local Hanoian, was appointed to manage it. Project officers for the surveillance and clinical services arms of the project have been recruited, together with two administrative assistants. Further appointments will be made in 2008. A strategic plan has been developed, sentinel sites for surveillance of NCD and risk factors have been selected, and a team of consultants from the Menzies Research Institute travelled to Hanoi and HCMC in November 2007 to commence training.

Research Groups

Related Diseases

Staff

Team Leaders

  • Associate Professor Leigh Blizzard (Senior Member)

Team Members

  • Kate Butorac (Survey Consultant)
  • Dr Seana Gall (Junior Research Fellow)
  • Dr Costan Magnussen (Survey Consultant)
  • Mr Petr Otahal (Statistical Officer)
  • Professor Alison Venn

Related Funding Bodies