Partners’ HPSR report – 2021
Viet Nam
Overview
A total of 52 HPSR-related institutions were identified in Viet Nam, with 31 of these located in the capital, Hanoi. More than 40% of the total institutions surveyed are international agencies or international NGOs, and another 40% are university-based.
All indicators tracked over the 2018-2020 increased, perhaps signalling the growing capacity of all HPSR-related institutions in recent years. Indeed, Viet Nam’s HPSR-related institutes produced a significant number of national-level policy documents, articles for peer-reviewed journals and newspaper articles between 2018 and 2020, with a major shift towards COVID-19 prevention in 2020 in response to the pandemic. International NGOs play a significant role in HPSR and have been particularly active in terms of advocacy and engagement with Ministry of Health (MOH) officials.
Institutions by type
List of HPSR institutions
Knowledge generation
A total of 446 national-level reports and peer-reviewed papers were indexed in PubMed over 2018 to 2020. The number increased each year, with 117 in 2018 rising to 178 in 2020. Most of the reports and articles (76%) were produced by the academic and research institutions. Within these institutions, most reports and articles were produced by health science training institutions under MOH administration (67%, 74% and 61% in successive years, respectively).
Average number of reports produced per institution each year in Viet Nam and overall
Engaging policy-makers and the public
In all, 1251 newspaper articles related to HPSR were published over the period, with a jump in 2020 related to the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 322 meetings were held with MOH officials by all academic and research institutions. NGOs were actively involved in meetings with MOH officials (39% of the total), which indicates their roles in advocacy around different health policy issues.
These activities informed a number of government policies and plans. In 2018, for example, the Government of Viet Nam issued five draft laws, seven government decrees, two government resolutions, four Prime Minister’s decisions, one Prime Minister’s directive, and three government reports related to health issues. The health policy documents identified focused mainly on leadership and governance (61 documents); health financing (four documents); and medical products, vaccines and technologies (three documents).
Of the 47 policy documents issued in 2019, most focused on management and administration. In 2020, almost half of the 61 health policy documents that were issued related to COVID-19 prevention.
Average number of meetings held with policy-makers per institution each year in Viet Nam and overall
Average number of media articles published per institution each year in Viet Nam and overall
Academic and institutional capacity
The capacity of all HPSR-related institutions grew in the 2018-2020 period. While no new schools or programmes were created, 763 faculty members (including 596 full-time lecturers and 167 invited lecturers) were involved in teaching several relevant courses over the period, and a total of 532 students were participating. There was little or no information available on any short courses provided by institutions. Hanoi University of Public Health delivered an elective Health Policy course as part of a Master’s programme.
Total number of HPSR faculty and staff
Total number of participants in HPSR-related short courses
HPSR financing
Viet Nam had a national health research budget of over US$ 13 million in total for the years 2018 to 2020. The total national budget for health research averaged around US$ 4.5 million each year, with limited variability.
The national health budget, managed by the Ministry of Science and Technology, accounted for approximately 30% of the total budget, while the remaining 70% came from the Ministry of Health. MOH funding increased from 2018 to 2020, while the funding from the Ministry of Science and Technology remained the same during this period.
Data on funding received by institutions were not available as a result of the confidentiality of financial data in all institutions.
Credits and disclaimers
Partners’ health policy and systems research report, 2021
WHO/SCI/HSR/21.1
© World Health Organization 2021
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Suggested citation. Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research. Partners’ health policy and systems research report, 2021. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2021. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.
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