Title:	Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management – On-site course
Keywords:	Risk Public Health Management Emergency Disaster
Country:	Vietnam
Institution:	Vietnam - Hanoi University of Public Health (HUPH)
Course coordinator:	Ms. Do Thi Hanh Trang, PhD
About duration and dates:	2 weeks, Monday to Friday
Classification:	advanced optional
Mode of delivery:	Face to face
Course location: Hanoi University of Public Health (HUPH) 1A Duc Thang Road, North Tu Liem district Hanoi, Vietnam
ECTS credit points:	3 ECTS credits
SIT: Student Investment Time = 90 hours consisting of: Contact time: 28 hours Self-study time: 44 hours Assisted tutorial: 1 hour Field visit: 3 hours Assessment/assignment time: 14 hours Note: Students are required to retrieve and read emergency preparedness/reponse plan at different levels (including national, region, local, and institutional levels) and share with other participants during the course
Language:	English
Description: At the end of the module students will be able to: ● Discuss key concepts of emergency management and health emergency management ● Analyze common public health consequences of disasters and principles to manage these consequences ● Formulate a plan for health needs assessment in emergencies ● Analyze the principles of management of incidents and mass casualty situations ● Discuss principles of emergency response planning and critically evaluate a specific emergency response plan.
Assessment Procedures: Assessment will be based on class participation as a non-graded pre-requisite, group work, field trip reflection and major assignment. ● Students must attend at least 80% of contact hours to be able to undertake the assessments tasks. ● Assessment 1: Group presentation: 30% (writing/presenting a rapid health need assessment plan based on a given scenario). Students will work in groups of 3-5 people to prepare for the presentation at home. Each group will present their work in class within maximum 20 minutes and have 15 minutes to respond to comments of the other students and the course coordinator. The assessment will be graded on a 10 – scale. ● Assessment 2: Individual field trip reflection report: 20% Students are required to report on what they have learned from the field trip about the health emergency management system in Vietnam and components of an Emergency Operation Center, and their thoughts about what they have observed. This report should be between 500-word and 1000-word length and should be submitted to the course coordinator no later than three days after the field trip. The assessment will be graded on a 10 - scale ● Assessment 3: Final Individual major assignment (1,500 words): 5 0% - Students are required to evaluate a real emergency response plan (provided by the course coordinator or they can select an emergency response plan of a community that they are familiar with), analyzing its strengths and weaknesses and provide suggestions for improvement if needed. The students are to submit the major assignment at the end of the course. The assessment will be graded on a 10 – scale ● The students will be considered as failing each of the assessment task if they get less than mark 6 (out of 10). For each of the assessment task, failing students will be given a chance to resubmit their work that has addressed the comments given. This should be done within 1 week since when the marking results have been released and the resubmitted work will be reassessed by the course coordinator. Students will be considered as passing the course if his/her overall course grade is equal 6.0 (out of 10) or higher. Note: all assessment questions/requirements will be introduced to students at the beginning of the course.
Content: The main topics covered in this module are: 1. Fundamental terms and concepts in risk management and the risk management process 2. Common public health consequences of disasters (death, injury, communicable and non-communicable diseases, mental health and psychosocial problems, food security and nutrition, water and sanitation issues) and technical considerations in managing these consequences. 3. Rapid Health needs assessment in emergencies 4. Structures and procedures in management of incidents and mass casualty situations (incident management system - IMS, Incident Command Post – ICP, Emergency Operation Center – EOC, Emergency Coordination Center – ECC) 5. Emergency response planning: emergency response planning process and key participants involved in an emergency response planning process. 6. Field visit to Vietnam Public Health Emergency Operation Center (EOC) at the Ministry of Health. Here, students will have a chance to observe the organization of an EOC, understand how it works and will be introduced to Vietnam’s health emergency management system and the country’s experiences in health emergency management.
Methods: A variety of methods are used including lectures, group discussion, tutorials/field visit, individual work, student presentation and major assignment: ● Twenty-eight hours of lectures to introduce students to principles of health emergency management ● A 2-hour seminar for group assignment presentation ● A 1-hour session for assisted tutorial ● A 3-hour field visit ● Four hours for completing individual fieldtrip reflection report ● Eight hours for individual major assignment accomplishment ● Forty-four hours for other self-study activities (reading relevant materials to support lectures, group discussion for group exercises, completing small homework)
Prerequisites: Proficiency in English: TOEFL 550 or IELTS 6, Student admitted to a Master Degree Program within TropEd Network may join this course.
Attendance: The number of students is limited to 20, max no. of TropEd students is 10.
Selection: First come/ first serve
Fees: 600 Euro
Scholarships: None available
Major changes since initial accreditation: Major changes include the following - Consistent use of the term “emergency” throughout the course - Prior reading is required - Detailed description of assessment tasks and assessment criteria are developed and attached to this course description Detailed changes are shown above
Student evaluation: - During the past accreditation period, due to the low number of students applying for the course that did not meet the required minimum number of students for the course to be conducted, we have not conducted any course. The Covid-19 pandemic has also contributed constraints in organizing the course. Therefore, student evaluations are not available at the moment. We hope that with the online course provided in the coming years, which minimize students’ travel constraints, there will be more students applying for the course. However, an online course could be a weakness for those who want to be exposed to Vietnamese culture.
Lessons learned: Onsite course can be combined with online course to make the course accessible to more students.
tropEd accreditation: Accredited in Rabat GA (Ec TelCo), March 2020; reaccredited in EC TelCo, June 2025
Remarks: Every year emergencies and disasters affect hundreds of million people, taking a profound tall on people’s health and setting back development of affected countries and communities, sometimes for decades. Reducing impacts of emergencies and disasters on human life and health has been recognized as one of the World Health Organization’s most pressing priorities. This course provides students with fundamental knowledge on health emergency and disaster risk management. In this course, students will be introduced to the concept of health emergency preparedness and response and the structures involved in framing these activities.
Email Address:	dtht@huph.edu.vn
Date Of Record Creation:	2025-06-18 04:41:56 (W3C-DTF)
Date Of Record Release:	2025-06-18 10:58:18 (W3C-DTF)
Date Record Checked:	2025-06-18 (W3C-DTF)
Date Last Modified:	2025-06-18 10:58:18 (W3C-DTF)