As a rapidly developing country, Vietnam is increasingly confronting challenges such as an ageing population and a rising chronic disease burden that impact on national healthcare. Worker health and safety are also coming to the fore as critical public health issues that need to be addressed.
To this end, the School, in its capacity as a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Occupational Health, embarked on public health programme in partnership with the Health Environment Management Agency (HEMA) under the auspices of the Ministry of Health, Vietnam and Temasek Foundation.
Started in 2017, the programme has focused on the immediate need to improving occupational health and safety in hospitals and other workplaces in Vietnam, as well as addressing upstream concerns, such as the development of workplaces that are platforms for improving the health of populations. In a hospital workplace setting, this is particularly important because the well-being of employees invariable will affect safety and care of patients.
Through courses, workshops and pilot projects, this programme has developed the training and implementation capabilities of some 300 occupational health, workplace safety and healthcare specialists from Vietnam’s Ministry of Health, with the following areas of focus:
- Capability building for the practice of occupational health;
- Planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of public health programmes; and
- Development of an integrated workplace safety and health management system (Total Workplace Safety and Health) in the hospitals.
“The partnership programme between HEMA, SSHSPH and Temasek Foundation is one way of supporting public health leaders and specialists in Asia to develop and implement robust and effective public health care and workplace safety programmes in the region. Such programmes are important in helping to bring about long-term economic and social benefits for the wider community,” said Mr Benedict Cheong, Chief Executive of Temasek Foundation.
The programme comprised the following:
- Basic and Advance courses in Total Workplace Safety & Health (TWSH);
- Basic and Advanced courses in Workers’ Health; and
- Public Health Leadership workshops, which were targeted at public health professionals in mid-to-senior leadership positions and key decision-makers in hospitals and other workplaces. The first workshop was conducted in Vietnam while the second follow up workshop was conducted in Singapore.
SSHSPH faculty and staff, alongside colleagues from HEMA, conducted a total of 12 courses and workshops in the following areas:
- Principles and practices of occupational health;
- Safety and health workplace risk assessment and control;
- Implementation of Total WSH projects in government hospitals; and
- Development, implementation and monitoring of national health and safety programmes and campaigns.
Associate Professor Luong Mai Anh (MMed OM ’01), Deputy Director-General, HEMA, said, “This programme has helped developed the capacity on occupational health of health staff in my country, with more than 200 participants from national institutes, provincial centres of preventive medicine and universities participating in the training courses of this programme.”
Five pilot TWSH projects were also implemented at national and provincial level hospitals in Vietnam. A review workshop on the projects was held on 8 October where participants shared their learnings from the project implementation.
The final Advanced Course on Workers’ Health was held on 9–11 October, where province-level technicians, nurses, inspectors and engineers from the Department of Preventive Medicine were equipped with the skills to detect and control workplace hazards.
“The School has been exceptionally privileged to partner HEMA in running a series of training workshops to improve workplace health and safety. The five implemented projects were specially designed to protect and improve the health of staff working in hospitals to better enable them to, in turn, carry out their mission and important responsibility of protecting the health of the population,” said Dean, Professor Teo Yik Ying.
He added, “As an academic institution focusing on public health, we are immensely proud and heartened that the master trainers will be training the next generation of public health practitioners, to ensure and continue a culture of workplace health and safety in Vietnam.”
Case Study: Hai Duong Hospital (workforce strength 1,075)
At Hai Duong Hospital, the Total Workplace Safety and Health (TWSH) project began in January 2018. The following priorities, interventions, areas of improvement and challenges were identified.
Priority: Improving the working environment, proactively preventing and controlling harmful risk factors in the workplace
Interventions:
- Periodic inspection and monitoring of workplace environment to assess and control risks
- Periodic maintenance and inspection of working machines and equipment with strict OSH requirements, including electrical equipment and fire protection equipment
- Training on radiation safety, blood collection, occupational safety and sanitation, safe injection Interventions: Waste management training, medical incidents handling skills, standard preventive training
Challenges:
- Employees have unequal knowledge of workplace health and safety
- Time required to implement measures
- Skills in assessing occupational safety and sanitation can be improved
Priority: Ensuring health of employees at work
Interventions:
- Periodic medical examinations
- Physical activities such as badminton
- Health workers actively participate in physical activities, disease prevention
Area of improvement: Stress status
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