Improving Health Care for Ethnic Minority Populations through Pre-Service Training in Viet Nam: A Systems-Based Approach

Building on eight years of experience working with Vietnamese Universities, Pathfinder is partnering with two medical universities and five medical colleges to increase the number of students from under-represented ethnic minority groups.

With funding from Atlantic Philanthropies, this project aims to improve access to high-quality, culturally appropriate health care in mountainous and underserved areas where many ethnic minorities live, and to address equity issues for these groups. By partnering with two medical universities and five medical colleges/secondary medical schools, Pathfinder works to reinforce medical education with an emphasis on primary health care needs of minority populations. The project also promotes ethnic minority student representation in medical education, so graduates can return and serve their underrepresented communities.

Pathfinder has developed and published the Medical Anthropology Curriculum which aims to sensitize students to the social and cultural determinants of health. Additionally, existing curricula were “spiked” with ethnic minority case studies. Results of a mid-term evaluation showed that the project’s design and implementation are effective. Throughout the past six months, the project intensified its advocacy effort for policy change and improvements that promote enrollment, recruitment, and retention of ethnic minority medical students, as well as meaningful participation of ethnic minorities in the medical profession.