Student Receives People’s Health Medal.
Elizabeth Henry, a DrPH candidate in the School of Public Health, has received the People’s Health Medal from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam’s Ministry of Health, the highest honor awarded to nationals and foreigners who make a major contribution to healthcare in that country.
Henry, who will graduate from SPH this month, and School of Medicine pediatrics professor Carine Lenders received the medal for their work on behalf of the Abbott Fund Institute of Nutrition Science (AFINS) to advance hospital nutrition in Vietnam.
Henry and Lenders have led AFINS in Vietnam since 2010. The institute is a unique collaboration between the School of Medicine, Bach Mai Hospital, Hanoi Medical University, the National Institute of Nutrition in Vietnam, and the Abbott Fund, ultilizing education, clinical service, and research to strengthen hospital nutrition knowledge, attitudes, and practices. Advances made by AFINS, says Henry, “will have a lasting impact on the health care system in Vietnam.”
AFINS supports the development of nutrition and dietetics degrees at Hanoi Medical University and the training of more than 2,000 Vietnamese health care professionals to improve capacity in nutrition departments. In its research projects, AFINS has seen dramatic results, with one survey of hospitalized patients at Bach Mai Hospital showing a 29 percent decrease in malnutrition between 2010 and 2013.