Center for Health Market Innovations (CHMI)

Programs

Medical Education for Ethnic Minorities (ME EM)

last updated Sep 27, 2011

Overview

Implementing organization: 
Pathfinder International in Viet Nam
Implementation Partner(s): 
Tay Nguyen University (Medical Faculty), Thai Nguyen University of Medicine and Pharmacy, and the medical colleges of Dak Lak, Lam Dong, Kon Tum, Thai Nguyen and Dien Bien; Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education and Training
Legal Status: 
Public-private partnership
Year Launched: 
2009
Stage: 
Existing/expansion stage
Income Level of Target Population: 
All income levels

Funding

Primary Source of Funding: 
Donor
Additional Source(s) of Funding: 
Government
Funders: 
Atlantic Philanthropies

Scale

Personnel Employed: 
50-99
Number of Clients Served: 
It is estimated that 2500 students will be benefited from the project—among those up to 50% will come from ethnic minority groups.
Number of Facilities Operated/Networked: 
7 Medical Institutions
Other Measures of Scale: 
Summary: 

The Medical Education for Ethnic Minorities project seeks to improve the health status of ethnic minorities and other people in mountainous areas in Viet Nam by increasing the number of well-trained and qualified doctors, nurses, and midwives in their communities.

Program goals/rationale: 

Viet Nam is a multi-ethnic society and forms one of the most ethno-linguistically and ethno-culturally complex countries in the world. The majority (around 75%) of the ethnic minority population, which accounts for about 14% of the country population, lives in mountainous areas, mainly in the Northern Mountains and in the Central Highlands. Ethnic minorities live in mountainous areas and receive significantly poorer health care than urban and delta-area populations, resulting in far a poorer health status for all.

Few qualified medical staff are available; and, those that are present lack access to the latest information and best practices, which makes it difficult for them to improve their medical knowledge and skills.

Therefore, this long term project aims to contribute to improve the health status of ethnic minorities through improved medical education.

The project also serves as a platform for advocating for policies that promote effective participation of ethnic minorities in professional health care.

Key program components: 

The project improves primary health care in these areas by:

Increasing the number of students from ethnic minorities who attend medical and nursing schools. The project works with partner schools and relevant stakeholders, such as, the provincial people committees, the provincial committee for ethnic minority affairs, etc., to advocate for more enrollments of high school students to medical schools.

Improving the quality of teaching in general by updating the primary health curricula, and by tailoring curricula to better address cultural barriers and challenges to healthy behavior and care-seeking in minority communities.

New opportunities for field teaching in remote sites in areas with high concentrations of ethnic minority populations expand students’ understanding of the need for better services in those areas, and increase the likelihood that they will go on to practice in those areas after graduation.

Better preparing ethnic students so that they can return to their ethnic minority communities to serve as health professionals.

Program history: 

The project is designed as a first phase initiative and will be made applicable for other medical universities and schools in Viet Nam.

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