Guided by the legal statues of the Vietnam Public Health Association, actions initiated and experiences already gained during the past 4 years of its establishment, the following ideas as regards the Strategic Plan for 2007 to 2012 have been developed. Strategies proposed in this document focusing on 4 essential areas i.e. organizational, partnership, marketing and programmatic strategies. As these strategies are further developed and priorities are to be made between different programs and actions it is of critical importance to consider the capacity of VPHA at different levels to implement and financially support the strategies. This document has been developed with the contribution of members of Steering Committee as well as with consultancy of professor Goran Dahlgren from Sweden, who had worked as advisor for Vietnam Ministry of Health in health policy development for 5 years continuously, and thus to have a comprehensive view of public health system and problems. This Plan has been reviewed several times and all have been endorsed by Steering Committee’s members. 

1.     Vision: To improve the health of people in Vietnam by strengthening public health network to protect all Vietnamese and their communities from preventable, serious health threats and strives to assure community-based health promotion and disease prevention activities and preventive health services are universally accessible.  

2. Mission: To unite all people working in the field of public health for cooperation and mutual assistance and provides a forum for the exchange of ideas, knowledge and information on public health to advocate for public health policies, development, research and training.

3. Objectives:

Objective 1. To develop effective VPHA organizational structure at central, provincial and district levels.

Objective 2. To strengthen the advocacy role of VPHA through supporting and promoting the practical use of public health research in development and implementation of public health policies and programs.

Objective 3. To strengthen and develop VPHA affiliation capacities including the VPHA members as well as other key professionals and decision makers in the field of  health development.

Objective 4. To promote resource mobilization and network with local and international public health organizations as well as other related organizations.

Objective 5. To provide timely and accurate information on public health policies, programs and research through a wide range of dissemination channels. 

4. Priority strategies/solutions for the objectives: One strategy may address more than one objective. This priority strategies for the objectives play as foundation for the development of action plan for Vietnam Public Health Association.

Priority strategies for objective 1: To develop effective VPHA organizational structure at central, provincial and district levels..

1. Upgrading VPHA’s organization structure at central, by reforming Steering Committee’s structure and operational mechanism, as well as at provincial and district levels for organizational effectiveness
2. Setting up Advisory Committee working effectively on giving advise and helping expanding network and support for VPHA
3. Ensuring the availability of facilities needed to support the development efforts
4. Building capacity for VPHA staff and key members of provincial and district PHAs

1. Building capacity on advocacy and communication for VPHA staff and members
2. Bringing concept of Public Health and the images of VPHA to decision makers, health professionals and interested people to gain their support and involvement
3. Facilitating network to carry out and disseminate results of public health research and interventions
4. Identifying key public health policies and mechanism of how to support the implementation of those policies.
5. Initiating pilot projects focusing on elderly – a vulnerable group who require special and intensified endeavors to develop and implement relevant broader public health policies. This initiative will aim at building a model first tested in the three already selected VPHA’s research centers, which then can be applied elsewhere in a larger scale. It is expected that the success of this model will serve as evidence to advocate for government policies on elderly.

1. Building capacity of VPHA staff and local PHAs members and other concerned parties through conducting trainings, workshops, study visits and exchange programs

1. Facilitating consultancy services of VPHA’s members.
2. Making use of various available channels to seek collaborations with other national and international organizations

1. Gradually developing system to collect and disseminate public health research, policies, program reports.