CAN THO – MEETING TO SUMMARIZE THE EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

On 27 January 2026, at the Soc Trang Regional Centre for Disease Control, Can Tho City, a meeting was held to summarize the “Early Childhood Development” programme for 2025 in two components – the Kinh ethnic area (former Can Tho) and the Khmer ethnic area (former Soc Trang), chaired by Dr. Nguyen Van Them – Deputy Director of Can Tho Center for Disease Control.

At the meeting, RTCCD presented the implementation progress and results in the five provinces/cities and analyzed in depth the results achieved in Can Tho. In 2025, Can Tho completed 01 training course for city-level trainers and 04 training courses for Commune Health Workers and staff of Obstetrics/Pediatrics departments at hospitals and regional health centers. Immediately after the training, the Commune health stations integrated the programme into Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) sessions. One public hospital – Can Tho Obstetrics Hospital and one private hospital – Phuong Chau International General Hospital integrated the programme into regular specialized activity sessions.

In 2026, Can Tho will prioritize supervision and support for Commune Health Stations and hospitals. After the health units implement proficiently, the CDC will expand the programme to communes/wards of Hau Giang Province, expected to begin from Quarter 3 of 2026. For the Khmer ethnic area, the CDC will complete all training courses for trainers, supervisors and commune/village level facilitators before 31 March 2026. From Quarter 2, assigned supervisors will focus on implementing the programme in selected communes/wards; if effective, it will be implemented at Kinh ethnic points in these communes/wards, progressing toward expansion in Soc Trang (former).

Dr. Nguyen Thi Thao – Specialist of Medical Operations Department, Can Tho Department of Health shared that officers and leaders of the CDC regularly updated the implementation progress and reported to the Department on difficulties, especially in the initial phase after Commune Health Stations were transferred to the Peoples’ Committees of communes/wards. The Department of Health will direct immunization units to implement the programme according to the directives and spirit assigned by the Ministry of Health.

At the meeting, trainers also discussed implementation methods, direct supervision guidance, ensuring supervision quality, and guiding parents on immunization days. After supervision in February and March 2026, the CDC will propose the number of units for expansion for RTCCD to procure facilitator toolkits.

The “Early Childhood Development” programme was assessed as practical and very important for Early Childhood Development. Diverse parent teaching methods and focus on practice will help parents retain information and quickly apply learned content.

Mr. Nguyen Van Them – Deputy Director of Can Tho Center for Disease Control