A team of 14 RTCCD staff have launched the first round of data collection in two outpatient clinics in Van Don and Cam Pha (Quang Ninh). The palliative care research is a longitudinal study with 4 rounds of data collection with a sample of 875 people living with HIV/AIDS to evaluate the integration of palliative care into existing district HIV out-patient clinics in Quang Ninh, Viet Nam. As part of the data collection process, 48 people living with HIV/AIDS are interviewed each day. The first data collection round started on 10 November and will finish on 15 December 2008. 

The RTCCD’s community based model of nutrition behavior change was successfully launched in An Binh (Van Yen, Yen Bai) in 2007, and was then extended to Quy Mong (Chan Yen, Yen Bai) in early 2008. It has now been accepted by the National Institute of Nutrition to test on an ethnic minority commune in a different province. Canh Nau (Yen The, Bac Giang) has been chosen for this plan. In September 2008, the RTCCD community nutrition research launched a baseline survey and in October-November, training courses using a positive deviant approach was launched. A study tour is also planned in which teenagers and new couples in Canh Nau commune will visit the TuNa Organic Foods Farm  

RTCCD, in collaboration with the scientists from the University of Melbourne (Key Center for Women’s Health in Society- KCWHS & Dept of Medicine) and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne, developed a research proposal to investigate the separate and combined effects of maternal mental health problems and anaemia in rural Vietnamese women on infant health and development and to provide preliminary evidence of an association on which a future prospective longitudinal study can be built. We are seeking funds from the Australia Research Council (ARC) and plan to launch the study in Ha Nam province in 2009.

RTCCD, in collaboration with the Viet Nam Administration of Child Care & Prorection (Ministry of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs), launched a pilot model of community-based mental health care in the four communes in urban Hanoi: Dong Tam, Kham Thien, Truong Dinh and Bach Khoa. The first activity is organizing a training session from 18-20 November 2008 at the RTCCD office in Hanoi in order to raise public awareness of child mental health care. 36 members of community organizations including women’s associations, health volunteers, and commune health staff from these communes attended. All trainers come from RTCCD and the TuNa clinic. Further activities will be launched in 2009, focusing on early detection and care of child mental disorders.