Speeches Shim
Ms. Kim Anh, a recent graduate of Hanoi Medical University’s (HMU) International Master of Public Health (MPH) Program, is poised for leadership in global public health. The international MPH program, the first of its kind in Vietnam, has been supported by USAID in partnership with the Vietnam One Health University Network. Kim Anh, along with students from Asia and Africa, has drawn on her public health training to support Vietnam’s successful response to COVID-19.
In February 2020, as COVID-19 began to threaten Vietnam and the world, Ms. Anh trained HMU’s students about COVID-19 case traceability, epidemic investigation and zoning, and collecting samples for testing of people living in outbreak settings in Hanoi. Her work brought 124 students from 6th-year Doctor of Preventive Medicine and 4th-year Bachelor of Public Health programs to the fight against the pandemic. When Hanoi Center for Disease Control and the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE) created COVID Rapid Response Teams, Ms. Anh and the HMU volunteered in teams for sample collection, health quarantine activities support at Noi Bai airport and quarantine centers, and in COVID surveillance. “Participation in COVID prevention activities was a precious opportunity for students to understand the essential role of preventive medicine systems in medical strategies for epidemic and pandemic response,” she said.
USAID is proud to support the International Master of Public Health program with a focus on the interdisciplinary One Health program – bringing together the animal health, human health, and environmental aspects to control emerging epidemics. Ms. Anh is a bright example of the future of public health leaders developing with USAID’s support. And Vietnam has, to date, succeeded in controlling the COVID-19 epidemic, with only 355 cases of COVID-19 and no deaths by July 8, 2020, more than 5 months after the first cases were reported.
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