As is true throughout Southeast Asia, persons with mental illness in Vietnam suffer from stigmatization and under-resourced care. But things are changing. Vietnam is experiencing rapid economic expansion, and concurrently, attitudes about caring for individuals with mental illness are shifting.
In 2013, Richard Veith, MD, joined the Medical Education Exchange Teams (MEET) to establish a UW academic collaboration with the Cần Thơ University of Medicine and Pharmacy (CTUMP) in the area of mental health and other specialties, e.g., Radiology, Medical Education, OB/Gyn. MEET is a non-profit organization that supports global health education by fostering international education partnerships in Vietnam. For the past five years, Dr. Veith has worked with colleagues at CTUMP to expand its capacity to provide mental health care in Family Medicine and to provide teaching for medical students and community psychiatrists. He is continually bringing more Seattle-based mental health professionals into the effort.
The UW/MEET team that traveled to Cần Thơ in April, 2018 was the biggest one yet consisting of Dr. Veith, Kathleen Myers, MD, MPH, Pamela Collins, MD, MPH, Elizabeth McCauley, PhD, Gary Stobbe, MD (neurology), Lynn Vigo, MSW (mental health family therapist), Kenric Hammond, MD, and Ian Bennett, MD, PhD. Members of the team presented a workshop on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) to medical and educational professionals, from global epidemiology to evidence-based interventions. They interviewed nine children 2 to 13 years old to hone diagnosis and interventions at Cần Thơ Children’s Hospital. Parents were open, trusting, and very aware of their children’s needs. They especially appreciated viewing Ms. Vigo’s video describing her experience in raising a child with ASD and learning that their challenges were comparable to the challenges experienced by families in the United States.
Dr. Bennett provided seminars on perinatal depression at the Cần Thơ Gynecology & Obstetrics Hospital, and joined Dr. Veith in teaching in CTUMP’s first day-long continuing education workshops for community Family Medicine primary care physicians and regional psychiatrists. Drs. Bennett and Collins also worked with faculty in the CTUMP department of Public Health to develop a research project based in the commune health center setting to screen and treat depression among pregnant women. Dr. Hammond presented a seminar on research methodology for Public Health Department faculty that was well received.
UW/MEET will return in November, 2018 to continue the teaching and research activities and to develop a culturally-specific model of care for children with ASD in Cần Thơ.
