Introduction

Department of Epidemiology belongs to the Faculty of Basic Science, Hanoi School of Public Health. As the backbone area in Public Health, the major goal of the department is to strengthen the capacity of Public Health people in identifying health issues, risk factors and implementing effective health promotion intervention. To achieve this goal, the department has been continuously expanded the linkage and collaboration with institutions and partners in both training and research. Having provided high quality training for basic public health principles, the department has been working closely with local as well as international experts to develop and constantly update curricula in Epidemiology and Research methodology.

Contact address

Epidemiology Department
Hanoi
School of Public Health
138 Giangvo,
Hanoi, Vietnam
Tel.: 84 4 845 2822 (ext. 145)
Fax: 84 4 845 2738
Email: lva@hsph.edu.vn

Staff members

	Associate Professor Le Vu Anh Head of the Department MD, Hanoi Medical University, 1976 MPH, London School of Hygine and Tropical Medicine - London, UK, 1990 PhD, Hanoi Medical University, 1989 Email: lva@hsph.edu.vn
	Tran Huu Bich Deputy Head of the Department MD, Odessa Medical University, 1990 MPH, Tulane University, USA, 2002 PhD, Tulane University, USA, 2002 Email: thb@hsph.edu.vn
	La Ngoc Quang, MD, MPH Lecturer MD, Thai Binh Medical University, 1995 MPH, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Netherland, 2002 Email: lnq@hsph.edu.vn
	Le Thanh Ha, MSc BA, National University, Hanoi, 1995 MSc, University of Columbia, New York, 2001 Email: lth3@hsph.edu.vn
	Pham Quynh Nga, MD, MPH Lecturer MD, Hanoi Medical University, 1996 MPH, Queensland University of Technology, Australia, 2003 Email: pqn@hsph.edu.vn
	Nguyen Trong Ha, MPH Lecturer BA, University of Adelaide, Australia, 2002 MPH, University of Washington, USA, 2006 Email: nth8@hsph.edu.vn

Research

Research

• Needs assessment of public health training, 1997.
• Burden of disease in An Hai district, Hai Phong, 1998 – 2000
• Vietnam multi center injury survey, 2000 – 2002
• Study on structure and distribution of basic public health functions in Vietnam, 2001 – 2002.
• Study on KAP among manager of primary health center in 6 provinces, Vietnam 2001 – 2002
• Study on the quality of health care for children under 5 at the primary levels in 4 Northern provinces, 2002 – 2003
• Identification of trachoma risk factor, 2003 – 2004
• Study on tobaco control and the intervention “No smoking School”, 2004 – 2005

Publication

• Vietnamese translation of “Principle of Epidemiology”, Medical Publisher, 1997
• Vietnamese translation of “Basic Epidemiology” by T. Beaglehole, R. Bonita, T. Kjellstrom, Medical Publisher, 2004.
• Vietnamese translation of “Guidelines for conducting community surveys on injuries and violence” by Sethi D, Habibula S, McGee K, Peden M, Bennett S, Hyder AA, Klevens J, Odero W, Suriyawongpaisal P., Medical Publisher, 2005.

Training

The Department of Epidemiology offers high quality and professional training course in Epidemiology through.
Long-term training
Master of Public Health
Bachelor of Public Health
CK 1, (First degree of specialization in public health): in school and distant training
Short-term training
Short course in Primary health care management
Short course in injury epidemiology
2. Courses
2.1. Introduction to Public Health BPH
This course provides students with basic concepts of public health and related disciplines. Content of the course includes functions and history of public health, public health issues and health determinants, Vietnam's health care system such as health care service and prevention, history of primary health care and Vietnam's health care strategy, principle of primary health care and career perspective of public health professionals.
2.2. Basic Epidemiology BPH
In this course, students are provided an introduction to Epidemiology including the basics such as definition of epidemiology, measures of morbidity and mortality, measures of association, study designs, errors in epidemiological study; also epidemiology of infectious diseases, environmental and occupational health, and injury; and the application of epidemiology in assessing health services.
2.3. Applied epidemiology methods 1 MPH
This course focuses on providing basic principles and methods of epidemiology for students. The course's main contents include: epidemiologic approaches in identifying and measuring health related occurrences in a population; advantages and disadvantages of each of epidemiologic designs; threats to validity of epidemiologic studies and methods to control; causality; roles of epidemiology in monitoring and evaluating public health programs.
2.4. Applied epidemiology methods 2 MPH
The prerequisite for this course is that students have to take the Applied Epidemiology Method 1 course before. The course focuses on strengthening epidemiologic knowledge and skills so that students will be able apply epidemiologic methods in public health reality. We address analytical epidemiologic study designs with an emphasis on observational studies. Especially the course emphasizes methods to assure validity of epidemiologic study results from design phase to data collection and data analysis phases. Epiinfo and SPSS soft wares will be introduced in the course for data analyses.
2.5. Quantitative research method BPH and MPH
This course was designed to provide students knowledge and skills to: analyze and select appropriate research topics; state main research objectives; choose appropriate research design(s); develop suitable instruments to collect data; develop a plan for data analysis; and finally write a complete research proposal.
2.6. Disease prevention MPH
This course provides students with basic concepts on: Global and Vietnam burden of diseases; epidemiology of communicable, non-communicable diseases and injuries in Vietnam; setting up surveillance system for the certain kind of diseases or health events and the important of the surveillance system in health service provision; priorities and strategies in prevention and control diseases in Vietnam.
2.7. Epidemiology of injury BPH and MPH
This is a new course not only for BPH students but also MPH ones. In this course, students examine injury as a challenging public health issue, the epidemiology of injury in Vietnam and other countries, some epidemiological aspects specific in injury, and an overview of injury control and prevention.
2.8. Epidemiology of communicable diseases BPH and MPH
This course provides students with knowledge on communicable diseases such as sources of transmission; transmission modes and environments; main components of communicable diseases' surveillance system in general and in Vietnam; methods to control for communicable diseases; outbreak investigation.
2.9. Epidemiology of non-communicable diseases BPH and MPH
This course is design to give student new approach to determine morbidity in the community: the burden of non-communicable disease and the measurement method, epidemiology of cancer in Vietnam and other countries, epidemiology and prevention of other non-communicable diseases including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and mental illness.
3. Teaching methods
Activities on class include
Formal lectures
Tutorials (working in small groups)
Activities out of class are
Doing assignments given after each learning session. Students are required to submit their solution in the following session (late submission is not accepted). Students can discuss to others or to lecturers on the assignment but students must do their assignment individually.
Reading articles which are related to the topics presented on class.
4. Quality assurance and quality control of the training
Based on need assessment.
Working group experienced domestic, and foreign experts in epidemiology . (Expertise and international training materials)
Applied the advantages of international standard curriculum on related topics from other countries (UK, US, Australia).
Revised each year, based on assessment made by lecturers and feedbacks from students (lesson evaluations and course evaluations).

Training methods
Activities on class include:
- Formal lectures
- Tutorials (working in small groups)
- Activities out of class are
Doing assignments given after each learning session. Students are required to submit their solution in the following session (late submission is not accepted). Students can discuss to others or to lecturers on the assignment but students must do their assignment individually.
Reading articles which are related to the topics presented on class.
Quality assurance and quality control of the training:
Based on need assessment.
Working group experienced domestic, and foreign experts in epidemiology . (Expertise and international training materials)
Applied the advantages of international standard curriculum on related topics from other countries (UK, US, Australia).
Revised each year, based on assessment made by lecturers and feedbacks from students (lesson evaluations and course evaluations).

Activities / Links

1. Projets

1. Strengthen the public health system in Vietnam - Atlantic Philanthropies.
   Public Health Without Wall training project-Rockefeller Foundation and China Medical Board.  
2. Develop field epidemiology laboratory in Chilinh - China Medical Board.  
3. Develop the training curriculum for bachelor of public health - Queensland University of Technology.
4. Capacity building for public health lecturer - Queensland University of Technology and University of Queensland.
5. Develop the curriculum and contents of distant training for master of public health-London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

1. Collaborate with epidemiology experts from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom to develop the curriculum and contents of training courses on Basic epidemiology, Epidemiology of communicable diseases, and also develop the study protocols on communicable diseases.  
2. Collaborate with epidemiology experts from University of Massachusetts, United State, to develop the curriculum and contents of training courses on  Epidemiology of non-communicable diseases, and also develop the study protocols on cancer and other non-communicable diseases.  
3. Collaborate with demography and health science experts from Tulane University, United State, to develop the Demography and Epidemiology Surveillance System in Chilinh, Haiduong.
4. Collaborate with injury epidemiology experts from University of Washington, CDC, United State, WHO Geneva, to develop the curriculum and conduct the training courses in injury prevention and control, and also develop the study, intervention protocol on injuries.