V-RESIST Stakeholder Newsletter
Presentation and exchanging ideas at the 51st Union World Conference on Lung Health
V-RESIST Study offered scholarships for researchers from the Hanoi Medical University Hospital, the National Lung Hospital, Quang Nam Pham Ngoc Thach Hospital, and Ton Duc Thang University to attend the 51st Union World Conference on Lung Health. This international conference was held online between 20th and 24th October 2020. The team had three oral and poster presentions at the conference. They also had a chance to exchange their knowledge and experience in conducting lung health research at a leading international conference.
Dissemination of results from the V-RESIST baseline studies
The V-RESIST has completed several baseline studies including geospatial mapping of pharmacies, qualitative research into community attitudes towards antimicrobial use, surveys of pharmacy dispensing practice, and analyses of the relationship between antimicrobial use and health system factors.
These findings are being widely shared at the below meetings and conferences:
- The 80th FIP World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
- The AMR working group in Viet Nam
- The meeting at Marie Bashir Institute Colloquium in Sydney, Australia
- The 3rd Annual Sydney-Viet Nam Symposium (see video below)
The pharmacy standardised patient survey showed pharmacies commonly give antibiotics to patients without a prescription for viral URTI and diarrhoeal symptoms, (see Table below). A minority of people presenting with presumptive TB were appropriately referred for diagnosis to government healthcare facilities, (see Figure below). We also learned that just one-quarter of hospitals at provincial and district levels frequently run Antimicrobial Stewardship Programmes – a valuable strategy for ensuring appropriate antimicrobial use.
The first V-RESIST manuscript “What are the most effective community-based antimicrobial stewardship interventions in low and middle incomes countries? A narrative review” was accepted for publication at the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. The research team is working on six other manuscripts to prepare for submission
Preparation for Interventions in Phase 2 of the V-RESIST project
Key findings from our baseline studies highlighted the great challenges in Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) within the community. These included a common belief and habit of antibiotic use without a prescription, pharmacy management weaknesses, and social and economic pressures to inappropriately sell antibiotics without prescriptions. Those findings were used to develop promising community-based interventions, planned to be deployed in 2021 in Ha Noi and Ca Mau provinces. We have developed a comprehensive package of interventions to target three main groups, including the public, community pharmacies, and district hospitals, to improve rational antibiotic use.
Joining international and national effort against the COVID-19 pandemic
With the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic, we have undertaken a series of COVID-19 related studies in Viet Nam.
Study 1: The COVID-19 sero-prevalence survey conducted in four clusters that occurred during the outbreaks in Ha Noi, Quang Nam, and Da Nang found a very low prevalence of positive serology to SARS-COV-2, varied between 0.0% and 1.1%. Our research indicated that Viet Nam’s responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have been effective in mitigating the spread of the virus in the community (link to the infographics: https://bit.ly/sero-eng).
Study 2: A qualitative study showed that members of the community fear being blamed results for their failure to obtain a diagnosis, potentially acting as a deterrent to the effective management of the outbreaks. Future communication campaigns should avoid blaming people with COVID-19 and their contacts – instead, showing that COVID-19 can potentially affect anybody (see the stigma video below).
Study 3: An initial situational review to assess key factors related to COVID-19 vaccine development and rollout, and characterising key challenges and decision points in Viet Nam. The assessment indicated that while Viet Nam has a solid vaccine production capacity, there are significant challenges that remain to ensure an equitable, safe, and efficient delivery system (link to the infographics: https://bit.ly/vaccine-eng).
Study 4: A study on radiological and clinical characteristics of patients hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 at the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases demonstrated the need for novel biomarkers that identify patients at increased risk of more severe forms of COVID-19 (link to the infographics: https://bit.ly/xraystudy-eng).
