The project is implemented under the management of RTCCD and in collaboration with the National Hospital of Paediatrics and the Dien Bien Department of Health. It aims to reduce morbidity and mortality of children under 5 years old and improve knowledge of child care to the community of ethnic minorities in 16 communes of Muong Nhe district of Dien Bien province.

Since its establishment, RTCCD has been committed to improving the health and well-being of children and families in Vietnam. RTCCD’s efforts to improve maternal and child health include three key areas - intervention development, policy analysis and model evaluation.

A critical analysis of the health system in Vietnam is just one of many areas of focus for the staff at RTCCD. More specifically, RTCCD is heavily involved in the review and evaluation of several projects which aim to improve the current status of the Vietnamese health system.  Currently there are many issues surrounding the management of health systems. The quality of the hospitals often does not correlate with the expectations of patients. Total care is a significant problem according to hospital leaders and the head of departments within hospitals. It is essential that hospitals increase their quality of care to ensure the patients are satisfied.

Despite tremendous progress made in the population’s health in Vietnam over the past two decades, malnutrition rates remain unacceptably high in Vietnam’s children, who make up 36 percent of the population. According to UNICEF, 25 percent of children under five are still malnourished. The main contributing factors to the poor nutritional status of children include poor caring and feeding practices; only 19% of babies are exclusively breastfed at 4 months. Children suffering from malnutrition often experience long-term health consequences such as growth failure; delayed motor, cognitive, and behavioural development; diminished immunocompetence; and increased morbidity and mortality.

We would like to share with you the story of our pathway to success in mental health in Vietnam.

Mental health is one of the main focus areas of RTCCD. RTCCD is an accredited institution in providing training on, research in, and community interventions for upgrading mental health care and prevention in Vietnam. Our involvement in mental health area includes research, training and mental health promotion, the establishment of TuNa clinic and policy advocacy.

RTCCD’s research on mental health focuses on validating psychometric tools to screen mental disorders; conducting epidemiological studies to measure the burden of mental disorders and factors contributing to the distribution of mental disorders in various population subgroups, especially women and children; piloting community-based intervention studies on prevention of mental disorders; piloting community-based intervention studies seeking cost-effective strategies for mental health care for rural people; mental health care; organic foods and micronutrient deficiencies; and policy-oriented research for developing mental health care in Vietnam.