The Contribution of Digital Health in the Response to Covid-19 in Vietnam

Abstract

Emerging from early of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has become one of the most serious health crisis globally. In response to such threat, a wide range of digital health applications has been deployed in Vietnam to strengthen surveillance, risk communication, diagnosis, and treatment of COVID-19. Digital health has brought enormous benefits to the fight against COVID-19, however, numerous constrains in digital health application remain. Lack of strong governance of digital health development and deployment; insufficient infrastructure and staff capacity for digital health application are among the main drawbacks. Despite several outstanding problems, digital health is expected to contribute to reducing the spread, improving the effectiveness of pandemic control, and adding to the dramatic transformation of the health system the post-COVID era.

Demand for Mobile Health in Developing Countries During COVID-19: Vietnamese’s Perspectives from Different Age Groups and Health Conditions

“…The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating social, economic and political impacts, making it challenging for governments to act promptly to control the pandemic. 22 Many countries have implemented containment and mitigation measures to prevent the spread of diseases. mHealth technologies have proven to have considerable positive effects in preventing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

“…23 According to a previous study, digital health can contribute to reducing the spread and improving the effectiveness of pandemic control. 22 On an individual level, health apps support users in managing their risk of exposure and symptom progression and help patients to track their symptom development, take medication and maintain a healthy lifestyle. 24 Acknowledging the benefits of mHealth in the current health crisis, multiple studies have investigated the factors affecting its adoption in this pandemic context.…”

“…Second, although patient demand in developing countries during COVID-19 has been widely investigated in Central East Asia and South Asia, there are only two studies on digital health in this pandemic situation in Vietnam but from policy-makers and doctors' perspectives. 22,30 However, the literature has underresearched the desiring features from the users perspective in an mHealth application, specifically to mitigate the current COVID-19 pandemic situation in Vietnam. These gaps motivated the authors to choose Vietnam, a country unfamiliar with digital or mobile health, as the new research context.…”

“…First, more qualitative studies should be conducted to acquire Vietnamese demand from different dimensions. 22 Second, recent scholars have mostly focused on the younger generation, while the differences in technology receptiveness and understanding or health awareness between age groups and separated health condition groups are also vital problems that more papers need to investigate carefully. 25 Additionally, during the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a lack of research investigating the demands and viewpoints of vulnerable and limited access to technology citizens such as the elderly or people with chronic diseases, who are sometimes the group of residents requiring the most health care services.…”

“…For instance, two researchers who concluded that digital health and emerging telehealth technology hold the potential to support Vietnam against the COVID-19 pandemic admitted that their papers came from the perspective of doctors, not residents or patients. 22,30 Third, to build a diversity of mHealth interventions, it is essential to study further mHealth fields, as well as the limited fields that developers believe to be important. Finally, there has been a demand to concentrate on mHealth applications as most of the current interventions studied are based on SMS or phone calling foundations.…”