Interprofessional Collaboration to Improve Health through Poverty Reduction and Better Social Services in Vietnam

This paper describes an interprofessional effort to improve community health in the Vietnam context. Since the late 1980s, Vietnam has experienced rapid economic development. However, the economic growth has not extended to all regions of the country or to all population groups. The gap is widening between the rural and urban areas, among various groups. At the same time, there is increasing incidences of social ills such as HIV/AIDS, prostitution, family violence, child and elder abuse and neglect. These community issues need intervention so that people's health can be improved. In response to request for assistance in dealing with these issues, the school of Nursing and school of Social Work of a Canadian university collaborated to assist a Vietnamese counterpart in designing programs to educate qualified social workers for meeting this great need of the country.