Analysis of documents issued during two phases responding to COVID-19 in Dong Thap through matching against the set of essential functions of public health in Viet Nam.

Abstract

The Dong Thap province study in 2022-2023 on "Analysis of Documents issued during the COVID-19 Pandemic Through Matching against the Essential Functions of Public Health" is one of a series of basic studies that the Public Health Association (VPHA) has conducted right during the COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam. The main objective of these studies is to understand the gaps in the practical application of the functions and subfunctions of the EFPHs toolkit and to find effective complementaries to have a good preparedness for future health emergency response. The research series was divided into two phases: In phase one, the research object is documents issued during the pandemic, but only from agencies at the central level, including the government, the National Steering Committee, and the Ministry of Health. those default places are the most important decision-making bodies directly related to the pandemic. This first study was conducted by the Office of the Vietnam Public Health Association. The second phase is conducted in three provinces of the Public Health Association in three regions of Vietnam, including Yen Bai, Hue, and Dong Thap. The main objective of this second phase study is to describe the epidemic pattern occurring at the provincial level and decisions made at the local levels through documents issued: the textual data from the Province, District, and Commune were also matched against the EFPHs toolkit to draw specific lessons at the grassroots level in responding to a real pandemic. These studies were conducted by Yen Bai, Hue, and Dong Thap Public Health Associations with technical support from the Vietnam Public Health Association. Readers are invited to follow the specific research results of each province. Keywords: public health functions, directive documents, Covid-19, Dong Thap