ABOUT V-CAPS
What is V-CAPS?
V-CAPS stands for Vietnam COPD, Asthma and Prevention of Smoking. V-CAPS is a 5-year study which aims to determine the effectiveness of an integrated health-sector strategy to combat COPD and asthma in Vietnam.
V-CAPS is funded by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and the University of Sydney.
The Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD) network also supports for this study.
What does V-CAPS aim to do?
The main purpose of the study is to demonstrate the effectiveness of an integrated package of health sector interventions to decrease the burden of chronic lung disease in Vietnam through COPD/asthma interventions and smoking cessation interventions.
How is V-CAPS designed?
Phase 1
Stakeholder engagement
Phase 2:
Formulation and iterative pilot testing
Phase 3:
Cluster RCT of interventions
Phase 4:
Health system scale-up through local and regional partnerships
Main components of V-CAPS
Smoking cessation
Smoking cessation component focuses on characterising smoking status of patients presenting to health facilities as well as of health workers. The study also interests in looking for associated factors related to smoking behaviour and smoking cessation. These findings will serve as a concrete foundation to develop strategies to support patients and health workers to quit smoking.
Health system strengthening
V-CAPS aims to explore the current practice in COPD/asthma management in Vietnam and findings from these activities will help us provide suggestions to improve the health system and to reduce burden for national and provincial level in chronic lung disease management. On the other hand, V-CAPS also expects to help health workers participate more in smoking cessation service for patients.
COPD/asthma
This component aims to measure the prevalence of COPD and asthma among patients with respiratory symptoms at selected health care facilities, influential factors, current treatment methods and to pilot test new interventions to implement an algorithm which is appropriate for local circumstance in order to promote quality of life of patients with chronic lung disease.
Implementation science
All findings from the study aim to translate into policy regarding COPD/asthma management as well as smoking cessation. One of the most important component is the application of health economical methods to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the interventions in order to propose feasible strategies to scale up interventions sustainably.