Poster prepared by Hung Nguyen-Viet and Tran Thi Tuyet Hanh for the 6th Asian Pig Veterinary Society Congress, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 23-25 September 2013.

1. RISK ASSESSEMENT AND HEALTH RESEARCH IN VIETNAM:
A FIRST SPECIAL ISSUE OF THE VIETNAM JOURNAL OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINE
Nguyen Viet Hung1,2,3, Tran Thi Tuyet Hanh1
1Center
for Public Health and Ecosystem Research (CENPHER), Hanoi School of Public Health (HSPH), Hanoi, Vietnam,
Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi, Kenya, 3SwissTropical and Public Health Institute (SwissTPH,
Basel, Switzerland), hung.nguyen@unibas.ch
2International
Introduction
Risk analysis comprises three components: risk assessment, risk management and risk communication. Risk assessment (RA) is a
scientific approach to assess adverse health effects of hazards, and is therefore conducted by scientists, providing scientific evidence on
health effects. These evidences serve to inform and assist risk managers in taking measures to mitigate health risks.
In the developed world, risk assessment - supported and guided by the large database of diseases and exposure - is widely applied and
used as a tool for risk management. In developing countries, including Vietnam, there is a gap in applying risk assessment in forming
policy due to the lack of risk assessment research and expertise as well as of data availability. This is one of the reasons that the Journal
of Preventive Medicine published the special issue entitled “Risk Assessment in Health Research in Vietnam” in June 2013.
Methods
The Center for Public Health and Ecosystem Research at Hanoi
School of Public Health proposed and led the preparation of
the special issue. A call for papers was widely circulated to
different networks in Vietnam early 2012 with specific
deadlines for manuscript submission, peer-review schedule,
revision and publication. Once the manuscripts have been
submitted, all the peer-review process and publication were
managed by the Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Table 1: Papers in the special edition
“Risk Assessment in Health Research in Vietnam”
Paper
1
2
Risk assessment and health research in Vietnam
Risk assessment of Salmonella in pork in Hanoi, Vietnam*
3
Food-borne hazard in transforming pork value chain in Hanoi: basis
for future risk assessment*
Health risk due to exposure to chlorpyrifos for farmers in Thai
Binh: probabilistic risk assessment
Risk assessment of Arsenic contamination in tube-well drinking
water in Hanam province
Environmental health risk assessment of dioxin in foods in Da Nang
dioxin hot spot
Prevalence of Salmonella contamination in pig and pork at farms
and slaughterhouses in the Northern provinces of Vietnam*
4
5
Results
6
A collection of 14 original
research papers, news and
discussions on risk assessment
which have been used in health
research in Vietnam up to now.
7
8
Air Pollution as a Health Issue in Hanoi Vietnam: An Opportunity
for Intensified Research to inform Public Policy
9
Environmental health risk communication: concept, principles and
challenges
Training and Research Programmes in Health Risk Assessment in
Vietnam
Taskforce of risk assessment for food safety in Vietnam: linking
science to policy to increase food safety and livelihood generation
of the poor farmers*
Research projects on health risk assessment implemented by the
Hanoi School of Public
Health
News on risk assessment training in Vietnam*
Book review: 2 books on risk assessment in Vietnamese*
10
Risk analysis frameworkespecially risk assessment, risk
communication, and their use in
health research- will be featured.
11
12
http://cenpher.hsph.edu.vn/english/news/risk-assessment-health-research-vietnam
Risk assessment was used to assess health impact in specific
case studies covering microbial hazards (Salmonella, E. coli
O157, Listeria monocytogenes in pork value chain) and
chemical hazards (arsenic contaminated water, dioxin in food,
pesticide in agricultural production) (see table 1)
Review and discussion papers will provide a general landscape
on the current status of risk assessment research, skills in risk
assessment, as well as the linkage between risk assessors and
policy makers in translating risk assessment results into making
decisions for risk management measures.
13
14
*: paper highly relevant to pork food safety in Vietnam
Conclusion
Amid the gap in material on risk assessment in Vietnamese,
this special issue plays a significant role in providing readers
with a wide range of risk assessment information in just a
handout, which is hoped to serve as a quick mode of access to
risk assessment information.
Center for Public Health and Ecosystem Research (CENPHER), Hanoi School of Public Health
138 Giang Vo, Ba Dinh, Hanoi, Vietnam, T: (+84) 4.62733162, F: (+84) 4.62733172
E: cenpher@hsph.edu.com; W: http://cenpher.hsph.edu.vn