key: cord-0880719-56qknkuh authors: Xuan Tran, Bach; Thi Nguyen, Hien; Quang Pham, Hai; Thi Le, Huong; Thu Vu, Giang; Latkin, Carl A.; Ho, Cyrus S.H.; Ho, Roger C.M. title: Capacity of local authority and community on epidemic response in Vietnam: Implication for COVID-19 preparedness date: 2020-06-05 journal: Saf Sci DOI: 10.1016/j.ssci.2020.104867 sha: 654a6305ae55917fb2d3f42a50de64e5db2aaf60 doc_id: 880719 cord_uid: 56qknkuh Local authority’s response and community adaptive capacity are critically important for the prevention and control of infectious diseases, especially for the disease with an astonishing speed of spreading like COVID-19. This study aims to examine the perception on the capability of local authority’s response and community adaptation among core workforces in responding to acute events in Vietnam. Health professionals, medical students, and community workers in all regions of Vietnam were invited to participate in a web-based survey from December 2019 to February 2020. The snowball sampling technique was utilized to recruit respondents. The Tobit multivariable regression model was used to identify associated factors. The results showed that based on a 0-10 numeric rating scale, the mean scores of the capacity of local agencies and community adaptation were 6.2 ± 2 and 6.0 ± 1.8, respectively. Regarding local authority competencies, the lowest score went to “Adequate equipment, infrastructures and funding for disease prevention”. For community adaptation, the respondents evaluated the capacity on “Periodic training, equipment and drills to prepare for epidemic and disaster response” competency” with the lowest mark (5.2 ± 2.5). Overall, there were significant differences in the assessment of community adaptive capacity between urban and rural areas (p<0.01). This study indicated the moderate capacity of the local authority and community adaptation on epidemics and disasters in Vietnam. It is critically necessary to develop the action plan, response scenario and strategies to optimize the utilization of equipment and human resources in combating epidemics for each setting. highlighted the important role of community adaptive capacity in addressing major threats from 107 infectious diseases and natural disasters (Katz et al., 2006; Madrigano et al., 2017) . 108 Within different countries, governments are implementing a wide range of measures to 109 combat the COVID-19 outbreak, leading to the variation in the transmission speed of the SARS-110 COV-2 virus (Hale and Webster, 2020). Some of the Asian countries, such as China, Singapore, 111 and South Korea seemed to control the pandemic swiftly by adopting strict social distancing 112 policy, banning international travel and requiring people to wear masks in public. (Dweepobotee 113 Brahma, 2020; Popov, 2020). These efforts could not produce favorable outcomes without the 114 engagement of each member in the community (World Health Organization, 2020c). In contrast, 115 the United States and European countries failed to have proper actions in order to limit 116 interpersonal contact, leading to a rapid escalation of community infection and deaths (Sachs, 117 2020). However, the above control strategies are still in doubt as no scientific evidence was 118 adopted (Xiao and Torok, 2020) . The impact of interventions for the COVID-19 pandemic remains 119 the key knowledge gap which requires more work of public health and intersectoral researchers 120 (Yazdanpanah, 2020) . 121 The State Party Self-Assessment Annual Reporting (SPAR) tool was developed by WHO to 122 help all countries self-measure the status of 13 International Health Regulation (IHR) capacities 123 required to detect, assess, notify, report and respond to domestic and international public health 124 threats and acute events. According to IHR SPAR 2018, among total 13 capacity, Vietnam had 125 self-assessed 10 aspects with lower scores than the regional and global average (World Health 126 Organization, 2018). Understanding the current capacity of community responses on epidemics in 127 Vietnam will support the decision-makers to issue appropriate policies to empower and optimize 128 the local resources during the battle of combating dangerous diseases. This study aims to examine threats to Vietnam, the country shared a long border with China. In this cross-sectional study, we 136 invited three main subjects, including health professionals, medical students, and community 137 workers in all regions of Vietnam to participate in a web-based survey from December 2019 to 138 February 2020. The eligibility criteria for selecting respondents were: 1) being 18 years old and above; 2) 141 giving consent to participate in the survey and 3) having full ability to answer the questions. The A structured questionnaire was developed to collect the following information: Stepwise forward selection strategies were used with a log-likelihood ratio test at a p-value of 0.2 175 to obtain reduced models. This study was conducted right after the COVID-19 outbreak occurred in China, to 230 effectively respond to the epidemic, we consider it a reinforcing factor to natural disasters that is training and drills, they should be the first subjects receiving immediate training to be involved in 295 the disease control process. Finally, to fully understand the capacity of the system and the local 296 community to respond to COVID-19 epidemics, household surveys will supplement other 297 information about the behaviors of people, their attitude and practice in response to epidemics. Our study has some limitations that should be acknowledged. The substantial difference 299 between sample sizes of three subjects including health professionals, medical students, and 300 community workers restricted the ability to compare their perspectives at the significance level. The cross-sectional design restrained the causal relationship between assessment of local authority 302 and community adaptive capacity on epidemics and disasters and their determinants. In a resource-303 scarce setting like Vietnam, the online survey could be seen as one of the optimal approaches to 304 collect data with a large sample, however, data obtained through this method may encounter 305 reporting bias since the participants answered the questions on their own without any assistance or supervision of investigators. However, the research team made efforts to improve the validity of 307 the findings by piloting and carefully revising the online questionnaire before implementing data 308 accumulation. We also collected data in both urban and rural areas in all regions of Vietnam, which 309 improved the divergency of participants in our study. This study indicated the moderate capacity of the local authority and community adaptation on 313 epidemics and disasters in Vietnam. Given the differences in response capability between urban and 314 rural areas, it is critically necessary to develop the action plan, response scenario and strategies to 315 optimize the utilization of equipment and human resources in combating epidemics for each setting. 316 Immediate training for health professionals, medical students, and community workers is extremely 317 important at this stage of the outbreak. The household survey should be conducted to fully understand 318 the capacity of the system and the local community to respond to COVID-19 epidemics. Since COVID-19 319 pandemic is still spreading all over the world, nationwide strict measures such as lockdown or large-320 scale quarantine were not technically possible and politically feasible. Our findings emphasize the 321 importance of building capacity for communities and subnational clusters, addressing health and 322 socioeconomic inequalities, and developing collaborative multisectoral mechanisms to optimize efforts 323 to control COVID-19 in Vietnam. This could also be a timely reference for other countries in the world. A timeline of COVID-19 spread and government interventions. DECISION: Approving the national Strategy on natural 358 disaster prevention, fighting and reduction till Preparing all conditions to cope with the epidemics on a large 360 scale Viet Nam to go into 15-day nationwide social distancing to curb COVID-19 Hefty fines -a prescription for treating fake news 366 on social media The global impact of covid-19 and strategies for mitigation and 369 suppression. Imperial College COVID-19 Response Team Immediate Psychological Responses and Associated Factors during the 371 COVID-19) Epidemic among the General 372 Population in China A Longitudinal Study on the Mental Health of General Population during 375 the COVID-19 Epidemic in China. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, COVID-19: interim guidance World Health Organization, 2020f. Responding to community spread of COVID-19 SPAR: State Party Annual Report Taking the right measures to control COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus: Overview of the state of the art and outline of 393 key knowledge gaps/slides Vietnam: Implication for COVID-19 preparedness 399 Highlight 400  The capacity of local authority and community on epidemics in Vietnam was moderate.  It is necessary to develop the action plan and response scenario for each setting.  Training for the core workforce in combating disease is extremely important.  The household surveys should be conducted to fulfill the knowledge gap.