Vietnam Global Health - Visit to Samaritan's Purse

On Friday January 12^th our team had the pleasure of visiting Samaritan’s Purse’s Vietnamese office where we met Emily Arneson, health and nutrition program manager, and Matt Swenson, the director of SP’s Vietnam programs. SP is a Christian NGO focused on emergency relief and disaster response. Their long term focus in Vietnam surrounds maternal/child health (malnutrition), training (of birth attendants), agriculture, and working with the healthcare system.

All of SP’s work in the country is in partnership with the Vietnamese government: “The government is always here so in some ways the partnership ensures continuity” (quote from Emily Arenson). Their projects mainly begin following government requests for assistance, which also imposes staff and monetary limitations on their work. One example of an approach was the donation of MTTS’ medical equipment to Quang Nam Hospital. The Quang Nam People’s Committee approached SP about a medical equipment donation, and the organization then researched devices and sought headquarter budget approval. For each device the procurement team needed to quote at least three different brand options. Some of the metrics for choosing devices mentioned by Emily were: durability, including warranty and service plan; ease of repair; total cost of ownership; training; price; and contextual understanding. MTTS devices were chosen largely because of their price, quality, and location – supporting local manufacture was an important additional means of generating impact through this project.

Presentation of the Otter to Emily Arenson.

Demonstration of Otter functionality.

When asked about issues surrounding their work, Matt mentioned that tracking impact was the hardest part, and that they wanted to devote more thought to questions like: “what are we doing, is it effective? Useful? Impactful? Do our activites bring about the change we envision?” I find these questions to be very important. They should be kept in mind throughout the development of Otter to ensure that teams remember what it is we are working towards. Overall, it was incredible and inspiring to hear such experienced humanitarians talk about their work and vision. 

ADE team, plus Hoi and Hai of MTTS, outside of Samaritan's Purse office.

-- Written by Helena Donoso