Improving Access, Curriculum and Teaching in Medical Education and Emerging Diseases (IMPACT MED) Alliance

With new technological advancements and the evolving health landscape, medical education in Vietnam needs crucial reforms to ensure that health care providers can deliver high-quality care to citizens and be active partners in addressing global health threats and pandemics. Through the Improving Access, Curriculum and Teaching in Medical Education and Emerging Diseases (IMPACT-MED) Alliance, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) convenes a diverse group of university, public sector, and private sector partners to educate and build a strong and effective health workforce in Vietnam capable of responding to the needs of the 21st century. 

REFORMING UNDERGRADUATE MEDICAL EDUCATION

Between 2016 and 2022, the IMPACT-MED Alliance fundamentally reformed the six-year undergraduate training program for general practitioners at five medical universities, revamping the curriculum from theory-based to a holistic, competency-based program that integrates medical knowledge, clinical skills, professional physician standards, and a partnering approach between the doctor and patient. Building on this success, and in partnership with Harvard Medical School, the Alliance is expanding this effort to an additional five universities.  

REFORMING POSTGRADUATE MEDICAL EDUCATION 

Between 2016 and 2022, the IMPACT- MED Alliance fundamentally reformed the postgraduate general surgery residency program at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City. Building on this success, the Alliance is expanding its efforts to reform general surgery and internal medicine residencies at five additional universities of medicine and pharmacy. In addition, the Alliance continues to promote stakeholder dialogue on needed medical education reforms to provide input to the Ministry of Health for the development of policies and regulations. 

STRENGTHENING HEALTH SYSTEMS FOR EMERGING THREATS 

The Alliance is helping to prepare Vietnam’s health systems for emerging health threats, with a focus on strengthening infection prevention and control at hospitals, and improving antimicrobial medicine use to minimize the spread of drug-resistant microbes. In partnership with a network of national- and provincial-level hospitals, the Alliance institutionalizes best practices through new systems of surveillance and prevention, standard operating procedures, training for health workers, and a network-wide knowledge management system that promotes continuous quality improvement. 

IMPACT

By 2026, ten of Vietnam’s leading medical universities will be implementing a reformed six-year curriculum for training general medical doctors, of which six will be implementing reformed medical residency programs on general surgery and internal medicine, benefiting a combined 18,000 medical students and residents. More than 4,000 faculty will be trained in new educational methods. In addition, more than 20 hospitals will have improved systems for monitoring and preventing hospital-associated infections, and 2,000 health workers will be able to apply best practices in infection prevention and control, and antimicrobial use. 

TARGETED LOCALITIES

The project works at the national level with the Ministry of Health and at the local level with universities and hospitals in the cities of Hanoi, Hai Phong, Ho Chi Minh City, Danang, and Can Tho, and in Thua-Thien Hue, Thai Nguyen, Thai Binh, and Hai Duong provinces.