Preface
This perspective provides a critical appraisal of the ongoing impact on Việt Nam of the Mekong Malaria Elimination Program that was proposed in 2015, inaugurated in 2017 and is set to continue throughout the 2020s. This is an ambitious public health strategy orchestrated by the World Health Organization in partnership with the six countries of the Mekong Delta Subregion. It aims to effectively combat the scourge of malaria, a major risk to human health since prehistory. This tropical infectious disease is caused by a mosquito-borne microscopic protozoan parasite called Plasmodium. From a Vietnamese viewpoint, the program sets twin targets: to reduce to zero the national incidence of malaria by 2030; to instigate robust surveillance and vector control measures to prevent its re-introduction to the Mekong Delta region of southern Việt Nam, traditionally the country’s hotspot for outbreaks of infection. The Vietnamese Government’s Ministry of Health has overall responsibility for meeting these goals.
The motivation for writing this perspective arose from a discussion between the two co-authors, one a recent medical graduate and junior academic, and the other a seasoned infectious diseases faculty with a longstanding interest in malaria. We had the shared responsibility of preparing, delivering and assessing a pre-clinical course on medical microbiology to the pioneering cohort of students enrolled on the Medical Doctor program offered by the College of Health Sciences at VinUniversity. In reflecting on how best to assess the parasitology component of the new curriculum we sought a team-based activity that would demand a higher level of learning than is provided by multiple-choice or short-answer questions. This exercise would also require individuals to harness their collaborative, organizational and time management skills, each a core professional attribute for a hospital physician. We struck upon the idea of inviting students to perform a literature search in both English and Vietnamese, scientific evaluation of the data, critical analysis, and group presentation of the first 5 years of the Mekong Malaria Elimination Program, appraising its successes and failures to date, and highlighting areas for attention.
What transpired was a pedagogically stimulating project for us as teachers of higher education, but which was intellectually challenging for the learners for whom we have responsibility. Sitting at the nexus of teaching and research, this monograph marks a culmination of this work – written by the co-authors with the assistance of a selection of our beloved VinUnian students.
Andrew W. Taylor-Robinson and Nguyen K. Quan
December 2023.
