FOR APPLICATION Since 1998, the General Department of Preventive Medicine (GDPM) and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S. CDC) have worked closely to strengthen the surveillance capacity in Viet Nam in emerging infectious disease prevention and response, including preparedness for pandemic influenza. In recent years, the GDPM is the focal point for the Viet Nam Ministry of Health to collaborate with other Ministries in Viet Nam, as well as with international agencies as the national focal point for implementation of International Health Regulations and the Global Health Security Agenda. In 2018, with support from the U.S. CDC, the GDPM has implemented Event Based Surveillance (EBS) and has conducted a nationwide survey on the sero-prevalence of hepatitis B and C. The GDPM would like to propose a Project Application for 5 years. The total funding requested for the first year is USD 504,295 with two research proposals that will expand upon EBS implementation and the nationwide survey on sero-prevalence of hepatitis B and C. The first research study on EBS proposes a mixed methods approach to evaluate different implementation interventions (above routine implementation) in order to improve the frequency, timeliness and quality of the reported events. The second research study proposal focuses on identifying the molecular epidemiology of blood-borne Hepatitis viruses in Viet Nam. The research proposals within this application will be coordinated by the GDPM, a specialized department of the Viet Nam Ministry of Health which performs the function of advising and assisting the Minster of Health in exercising State management, and organizing the implementation of law provisions on preventive medicine nationwide. In this capacity, GDPM is pursuing a Project Application with the U.S. CDC that will support this research to: 1) Use lessons learned from the EBS mixed methods evaluation interventions to improve EBS implementation in Viet Nam; and 2) Provide the necessary database for policy making and action plan development on viral hepatitis prevention and control, as well as diagnosis and management of patients in curative facilities. The research will propose a mixed-methods approach EBS evaluation that will be used to assess the effectiveness and impact of the implementation interventions, and to conduct genotyping of HBV and HCV in a subset of specimens to describe the distribution of their genotypes. We will retrospectively collect costs incurred by any organization involved and essential to the rollout.
OF THE APPLICATION The GDPM would like to propose a Project for 5 year with two research proposals for the first year that will expand upon EBS implementation and the nationwide survey on sero-prevalence of hepatitis B and C, including: (1) Determining best implementation practices of nation-wide scale up of EBS surveillance of infectious diseases, and (2) Molecular Epidemiology of Blood-Borne Hepatitis Viruses in Viet Nam, 2018. The research aim at: 1) Use lessons learned from the EBS mixed methods evaluation interventions to improve EBS implementation in Vietnam; and, 2) Provide the necessary database for policy making and action plan development on viral hepatitis prevention and control, as well as diagnosis and management of patients in curative facilities, respectively. The Projects will help Viet Nam in advancing infectious disease detection and response, and further tighten the Viet Nam MOH - USCDC cooperation. Advancing Infectious Disease Detection and Response in Viet Nam Page 1 RFA-GH-19-009
