Training of Trainers from 41 Provinces on Early Childhood Care and Development for Children in Their First 5 Years of Life

Upon receiving an invitation from the Child and Maternal Health Department (Ministry of Health Vietnam), the RTCCD’s trainer team conducted three Training of Trainers (TOT) sessions for 105 healthcare professionals from provincial hospitals, provincial Pediatric and Obstetrics Hospitals, and Provincial Centers for Disease Control across 41 provinces. This training program, organized by the Ministry of Health, was integrated into two national programs to secure provincial budgets for the implementation of training, child examination, and personal/group counselling sessions: Project No.7 according to Decision 2415/2022/QD-BYT (improving health and stature of ethnic minorities; preventing malnutrition in children under the National Target Program for Socio-Economic Development in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas for the period 2021-2030, Phase I: from 2021 to 2025) and Sub-Project No. 2 under Project No. 3 (‘Improving nutrition’ under the National Target Program for Sustainable Poverty Reduction for the period 2021–2025).

The TOT program provided knowledge and skills to provincial healthcare professionals on early child development assessment and early interaction with children during their early years. This assists in promoting early childhood development (ECD), following the guidelines of Decision No. 40/QD-BYT dated January 6, 2023, from the Ministry of Health, regarding the issuance of the document ‘National Guidelines for ECD examination and counselling in the first 5 years of life.’

Healthcare professionals focused on the following topics during the 3-day training sessions in Da Nang (December 13-15, 2023), Hanoi (December 18-20, 2023), and Ho Chi Minh City (December 26-28, 2023):

• Concept of early childhood development.
• Science of child brain development.
• Screening examinations for basic ECD and integrated examinations for sick children (Appendix I-A of Decision 40/2023/QD-BYT).
• Personal counselling for pregnant women and families raising children aged 0-5 years (Appendices II and III of Decision 40/2023/QD-BYT).
• 10 group counselling sessions integrated into the national expanded immunization program (8 sessions) and national nutrition program (2 sessions).
• Supportive supervision and reporting.

The 10 group counselling sessions are structured from 20 group-meeting sessions in the Early Journey Of Life program (alternative English name: Learning Clubs) that have been proven effective in positively impacting child development indices and parental behavior changes via the cRCT.

Following the training, the provincial health professionals plan to implement the program in provinces and report to the leadership for budget allocation for training healthcare staff in hospitals, health workers at district health centres, district hospitals, and commune health clinics from Project No. 7 or Sub-Project No. 2 of Project No. 3.

This TOT program aims to effectively implement Decision 40 of the Ministry of Health and Decision 1437/2018/QD-TTg issued by the Prime Minister on ‘Care for the early child development in their early years at home and in the community for 2018–2025.’ This training program is also part of the action plan to scale up the impact of the Early Journey Of Life innovation (EJOL), developed by the RTCCD and Monash University, funded by Grand Challenges Canada and the NHMRC Australia for 2018-2022. EJOL aims to be sustainably integrated into the national program to promote the practical implementation of ECD examination and counselling (individual/group) in routine activities offered by healthcare facilities, ensuring that Vietnamese children and families are supported for the full potential development of children.

Some activities of the training session in Da Nang

Training sessions in Hanoi

Training sessions in HCM city