About ProjectVietnam

The American Academy of Pediatrics is dedicated to the health of all children. Project Vietnam mission is to provide healthcare assistance to children at-risk, and poor rural communities in Vietnam, and medical training to health professionals in Vietnam. The ultimate goal is to improve health services for children.

Project Vietnam has worked in needy provinces of Vietnam since 1996. Among past achievements of Project Vietnam has been a 3-year effort to identify vitamin K deficiency as a major cause of newborn death and campaign successfully for the adoption of a national policy for Vitamin K injection after birth.

Current ongoing programs consist of improvement of healthcare for newborn, promoting sustainable standards for Infection Control, and the development of emergency services nationwide.

Project Vietnam has worked at 18 sites in Vietnam, trained a total of 28 provinces, and initiated interventions which have resulted in significant reduction in child mortality/morbidity and improved rural healthcare.

Project Vietnam collaborates with other NGOs and educational institutions and actively seeks partnerships to accomplish its goals for empowerment of the local healthcare professionals and health services for the most vulnerable populations.

Our current lead program: the Newborn Care Initiative Project

Vietnam started in 2005 an initiative to develop a network for newborn care at each of the 64 provinces of Vietnam, in order to decrease infant mortality and ensure best chances for quality future for the 1.6million babies born annually. This is in conjunction with the Ministry of Health, and lead academic institutions and Children’s hospitals in north and South Vietnam: National Hospital for Pediatrics-Hanoi and Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine HCM city.

The planning includes over 3 years:

Phase 1: Development of models for newborn care at 2 pilot provinces: Khanh Hoa & Vinh Phuc
Phase 2: National Training courses in North and South Vietnam-6 courses for the 64 provinces of Vietnam, allowing the adoption of unified guidelines for newborn care To date 3 national Training courses in Newborn Care were conducted in south and north Vietnam by Project Vietnam Newborn Care team. Delegates from 28 provinces have been trained by April 2006, representing 45% of the country.
Phase 3: Support for 10 hospitals to serve as leading Regional Centers for Newborn care at strategic geographical sites, to serve as referral facilities for advanced care. This phase will be implemented along with the above goals.

Total projected budget for Newborn Care InitiativeThrough a partnership with US NGOs East Meets West and International Children Assistance Network, 50 CPAP machines, a locally-manufactured respiratory equipment both effective and sustainable, have been provided to 11 hospitals in Vietnam in 2005.

This year we continue to offer training in HCM city, Hanoi, and at the 2 pilot sites Vinh Phuc and Khanh Hoa.

In the fall 2 national training for instructors on Neonatal Resuscitation and neonatal skills will be conducted in HCM and Hanoi.

Other Ongoing Programs

The medical mission trips continue to receive enthusiastic participation: the main trip last November had 154 participants with an impressive list of accomplishment. The spring 2006 trip brought our team to provide Pediatric Eye surgery and training at the provinces of Hai Duong and Nghe An. We will be returning to Nghe An (central Vietnam) in the fall for Primary Care at rural sites and Training. The mission allows us to focus on one rural province and develop ongoing programs.

The Emergency Care Training: identified as a crucial need for Vietnam with injury accounting for 65% of deaths in children over the age of 5yo. Project Vietnam Emergency Care training team brings 2-3days courses at multiple regional centers, and succeeded in promoting interest for a standardized training.

We have reached agreement with Bach Mai Hospital, one of the top academic institutions in Hanoi towards ongoing training by our medical specialists to develop and implement a curriculum for emergency care training.

We have collaborated for 3 years with the National Committee on Pediatric Emergency Services to establish realistic protocols, and will work to identify a pilot site in 2007.

Injury Prevention: a huge concern since at least 30,000 children drown every year! We are collaborating with the Health Services of Hai Duong province on a project to address Injury to young children less than 5years old. We trained province health personnel on pre-hospital care and first aid to community workers, and currently the new instructors are conducting monthly training on CPR and Injury prevention within their rural community.

Infection Control: a priority issue which is finally getting attention in the light of the rapidly-spreading viral diseases of the past few years, SARS and the Avian flu. Our Infectious Disease team will be sponsoring an Infectious Disease/Infection Control conference in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi to help forge national guidelines and realistic standards at all the medical institutions.

Our student-volunteers manufactured an alcohol gel sanitizer in 2003 which is still used at the National Hospital of Pediatrics, and last year a second group of volunteers introduced it at the top surgery hospital, Viet Duc in Hanoi.

Children with Congenital Heart Disease: a Pediatric Cardiology team with specialists from Oakland & Philadelphia Children’s Hospitals and UCLA, will carry out an initial assessment in June-July, at Pediatric Hospital 1 in Ho Chi Minh city to assist in developing capacity for non-invasive correction of heart defects.

Development of pediatric and medical specialties: through the participation of our volunteer-faculty during medical mission trips. Project Vietnam sends volunteer students in various discipline, to work at hospitals in Vietnam on projects which help establish a data base of existing capacity. The survey is used to build programs most appropriate for the local medical system. Volunteers are working year-round at Project Vietnam sites.

To provide the tools for the trained health personnel to save babies, a kit for Newborn Resuscitation is needed for all health facilities.

Project Vietnam has initiated a fundraising campaign “Breaths for Newborns” to save the babies by providing 15,000 CPR kits to trained health personnel.

$60 provides a basic kit for newborn CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation)
$100 covers the equipment and supplies with training for the rural physicians, nurses and midwives.

Our Staff in Vietnam Representative: James Brennan PharmD, in Hanoi

Program Manager, Newborn Care Initiative: Long Truong MD, in Ho Chi Minh city