1. INTRODUCTION 

The Institute for Community Health Research (ICHR) was founded on the basis of the smaller Center for Community Health Research (decision number 56/QD-DHH dated on 14 Jan, 2014 by the President of Hue University). The ICHR has developed from collaboration between Hue UMP, Health Departments of 5 provinces in the Central and Highlands regions of Vietnam and the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Australia under financial, resource and technical support from Atlantic Philanthropies (AP) and QUT.

The primary mission of the ICHR is to improve the quality of scientific evidence to promote community health. We apply research findings to community healthcare practice (for both design and evaluation), and  provide training and technical support to improve research capability among staff of community health services in 5 provinces in Central Vietnam.

2. MISSION AND VISION

Vision
To become a leading institute in Vietnam and in the Southeast Asia region for community health research, technical support and consultation services to promote better community health. The primary strategy is to create and sustain stronger community-university connections.

Mission
The mission of the ICHR is to carry out high quality collaborative researches, providing technical consultation and promoting evidence-based practice in community healthcare.

Objective

• Develop of a strong academic and health services network to ensure sustainability, including cooperation at local, national and international levels;
• Enhance the technical skills in research and evaluation of health staff of five intervention provinces in Central and Highlands areas of Vietnam;
• Conduct multidisciplinary research and promote Evidence-Based Practice in community health care;
• Enable open access to health information through community-based and scientific forums;
• Improve research ethics review procedures;
• Publishing and disseminating the research findings in national and international journals and scientific conferences;
• Develop and maintain an official website of the ICHR to enhance collaboration and information exchange among partners.
• Host training workshops on “Achieving international standards for Institutional Review Boards (IRB)”. This will be open to the ICHR’s provincial network. After the training event there will be ongoing mentoring from experts in Viet Nam and Australia for the IRB members;
• Develop, introduce electronic information system and organize regular meetings of IRB and Research Ethics Committee of HueUMP. 

3. ICHR STRUCTURE

4. ACTIVITIES

• Developing a strong collaborative network between ICHR and national and international partners.
• Providing technical workshops and training on research topics in response to the demands of the provincial partners and on Strategic Planning, Evidence-based Practice, Research Ethical Review.
• Developing a service network for consultation and evaluation of community health research
• Providing technical and financial supports for implementing research projects at HUMP and at five provinces in the Central and Highland area of Vietnam.
• Undertaking advanced large-scale research projects on public health mainly via postgraduate scholarships and external grants.
• Strengthening evidence-based practice (EBP) in community healthcare for the provincial health service staff (by supporting for conducting evaluative researches on community health services).
• Contribution to upgrade the editorial and peer review procedures in order to improve quality of the HUMP’s Journal of Medicine and Pharmacy.
• Support active connection between the provincial researchers and HueUMP’s Learning Resource Centre including provision of training on Advanced Information Retrieval Skills
• Organizing annual scientific seminars and festivals in community.
• Publishing and disseminating the research findings in national and international journals and scientific conferences
• Developing and maintaining an official website of the ICHR to enhance collaboration and information exchange among partners.
• Host training workshops on “Achieving international standards for Institutional Review Boards (IRB)”. This will be open to the ICHR’s provincial network. After the training event there will be ongoing mentoring from experts in Viet Nam and Australia for the IRB members
• Developing, introducing electronic information system and organize regular meetings of IRB and Research Ethics Committee of HueUMP 

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