Climate-Ready Healthcare Workforce in Viet Nam: From Awareness to Role-Based Competence

Climate-Ready Healthcare Workforce in Viet Nam: From Awareness to Role-Based Competence

IMPLEMENTATION INSIGHTS · CLIMATE-RESILIENT HEALTHCARE

Last reviewed: October 25, 2026

A healthcare professional may understand that climate change affects human health without knowing what should change in daily practice.

A physician may recognize that extreme heat can worsen certain medical conditions but may not routinely consider relevant environmental exposures during patient assessment. A nurse may understand that some patients are particularly vulnerable but remain uncertain about when a climate-related concern requires escalation. A hospital manager may recognize climate resilience as an organizational priority without having clearly defined what different teams need to know or do.

These situations illustrate an important distinction between awareness and competence. Understanding a risk is not necessarily the same as being able to respond appropriately within one's professional responsibilities.

Climate and health education has gained international attention, with growing opportunities for healthcare professionals to learn about environmental exposures, climate-sensitive diseases, extreme weather, and sustainable healthcare. These developments are valuable, but attending a lecture or completing an introductory course does not, by itself, demonstrate that someone can apply the knowledge effectively in clinical or operational practice.

For Viet Nam, healthcare workforce development presents an opportunity to move beyond general climate awareness toward competencies that reflect the services healthcare organizations provide and the responsibilities of the people working within them.

This does not mean turning every healthcare worker into a climate specialist. It means helping personnel recognize relevant risks, make informed decisions within their authorized roles, communicate effectively, and work with others when environmental conditions affect patients, staff, or healthcare services.

The question is therefore not simply how many healthcare workers have received climate-health training. It is whether they have developed the capabilities needed for their actual work and whether their organizations provide the conditions necessary to use those capabilities safely.

From Climate Awareness to Professional Competence

Climate change can influence healthcare through several pathways. Extreme heat, flooding, changing environmental conditions, and shifts in certain climate-sensitive disease risks can affect patients and communities. These pressures may also create additional challenges for healthcare workers and the organizations in which they work.

General knowledge about these issues provides an important foundation. However, the practical implications differ considerably across professional roles.

A physician caring for a patient with respiratory disease may need to consider whether recent environmental exposures are clinically relevant. A community health professional may need to interpret local public health advisories and communicate appropriate preventive information. An engineering technician may be responsible for identifying environmental conditions that could affect equipment or working environments. Meanwhile, a healthcare manager needs to understand how these responsibilities connect, whether staff have the necessary competencies, and what organizational support is required.

The knowledge needed by these individuals overlaps, but their decisions and responsibilities are not interchangeable.

Professional competence involves applying appropriate knowledge, skills, and judgment when performing assigned responsibilities. Depending on the role, this may mean recognizing a concern, making an informed decision, performing a technical task, communicating relevant information, or knowing when additional expertise is required.

Competence also has boundaries. A healthcare worker may be well trained within a particular role without being qualified or authorized to perform activities outside that person's professional scope.

This distinction matters in healthcare environments where safe and effective practice often depends on several professions working together. Climate-related health concerns may involve clinical assessment, public health information, environmental conditions, and organizational decisions, but no single professional group necessarily has responsibility for every aspect.

A climate-ready workforce therefore requires more than individual education. It depends on relevant professional capabilities, clear responsibilities, appropriate working conditions, and organizational arrangements that allow people to apply what they have learned.

What International Frameworks Tell Us

International guidance increasingly recognizes workforce capability as an important component of climate-resilient healthcare.

The World Health Organization's Operational Framework for Building Climate Resilient and Low Carbon Health Systems, published in November 2023, identifies the climate-smart health workforce as one of ten components of a climate-resilient and low-carbon health system.

The framework emphasizes developing the professional and technical capacities needed to respond to climate-related health risks while recognizing the importance of organizational systems, resources, and working conditions. It also acknowledges the role of the workforce in supporting environmentally sustainable and lower-carbon healthcare practices.

This broader perspective matters because workforce capability cannot be developed through training alone. Personnel may understand what should be done but remain unable to act effectively without suitable equipment, clear procedures, appropriate authority, or organizational support.

The Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education (GCCHE), based at Columbia University, offers another useful reference.

Its 2025 Climate and Health Core Concepts for Health Professionals framework identifies five domains. Three address knowledge and analytical skills, communication and collaboration, and policy, advocacy, and professional practice. The remaining two focus specifically on public health practice and clinical practice.

The framework recognizes that health professionals need a shared foundation in climate and health while also requiring competencies relevant to their professional functions. It can inform curriculum development and interprofessional education, although it does not prescribe identical requirements for every healthcare occupation.

The WHO COP30 Special Report on Health and Climate Change, published in November 2025, places workforce capacity within the wider effort to strengthen climate-resilient health systems. Its discussion connects workforce development with governance, infrastructure, financing, health information, and practical implementation.

A November 2025 publication from the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Building a Climate-Smart Health Workforce: Insights for Policy and Practice, also highlights the importance of connecting professional education with organizational practice and wider policy arrangements. Although its analysis focuses on the European context, the distinction between individual learning, institutional support, and system-level action is relevant elsewhere.

More recent research has examined whether existing competency frameworks adequately reflect differences between healthcare roles.

In April 2026, Priyanka Tomar and Neethi Varadaraja Rao published a scoping review in the Journal of Climate Change and Health examining climate-health competencies across different health workforce groups.

The authors identified two important limitations in the available literature: relatively few frameworks were specifically developed for low- and middle-income countries, and many did not sufficiently distinguish the competencies required by different groups of health workers.

Their proposed approach organizes competencies into five domains: knowledge, systems thinking, technical skills, communication and leadership, and professional practice. It also differentiates the capabilities relevant to clinical, public health, and community health personnel.

These findings are particularly relevant to settings where workforce development needs to be practical, proportionate, and compatible with existing institutional capacities. However, the proposed approach remains a research contribution rather than a universally validated or mandatory professional standard.

Another recent development comes from the World Bank.

On October 20, 2026, the World Bank published Climate and Health Competency Framework: A Common Reference for Strengthening Competencies Across Government.

The framework defines competencies for climate-health action across ministries, sectors, and government functions. Rather than prescribing requirements for specific job titles, it focuses on what policymakers and practitioners need to know and be able to do within different institutional settings.

Its emphasis on practical capability and cross-sector collaboration provides a useful perspective for health-system development. However, it is not a hospital-specific clinical competency framework or a mandatory professional certification program.

These international resources differ in purpose, audience, and scope. They can inform educational planning, professional development, and organizational improvement, but they should not be treated as interchangeable or assumed to establish new regulatory requirements in Viet Nam.

What they collectively reinforce is the importance of connecting climate-health knowledge with professional responsibilities, institutional capabilities, and practical implementation.

What Role-Based Competence Looks Like in Healthcare

A role-based approach begins with the recognition that healthcare personnel contribute to climate resilience in different ways.

For physicians and other authorized clinical practitioners, relevant competence may involve recognizing when environmental exposures should be considered in patient assessment, understanding the clinical implications of particular climate-sensitive health concerns, and incorporating appropriate information into management and patient counseling.

For example, a clinician assessing a patient with a chronic respiratory condition may need to consider whether recent air quality conditions or other environmental exposures are relevant. During periods of extreme heat, practitioners may also need to recognize clinical concerns associated with heat exposure and respond according to established professional guidance.

This does not mean attributing every illness occurring during an environmental event to climate change. Clinical decisions must remain grounded in the patient's condition, the available evidence, and applicable standards of care.

Nursing personnel have different but complementary responsibilities. Because they often interact with patients throughout the care process, they may be well placed to identify relevant concerns, incorporate appropriate observations into nursing assessment and care planning, provide authorized patient education, and communicate changes through established clinical pathways.

Other patient-facing personnel can also contribute. Reception staff, patient-support workers, and administrative teams may become aware of practical difficulties affecting patient access or experience. Their responsibility may involve recognizing a concern and directing it to the appropriate professional rather than independently assessing its clinical significance.

For public health personnel, relevant competencies may include interpreting surveillance information, understanding population vulnerability, communicating risks, and coordinating prevention or response activities within their assigned functions.

Community health personnel and primary care teams may need to recognize locally relevant climate-sensitive health concerns and connect patients or communities with appropriate information and services. Their expected capabilities should reflect their training, authorized responsibilities, and the health needs of the populations they serve.

Healthcare leaders and quality managers have another set of responsibilities. They need to understand where climate-related risks intersect with patient safety, organizational performance, staff capability, and existing management systems.

For a hospital leader, competence may involve recognizing when a situation requires multidisciplinary coordination, knowing who is responsible for particular decisions, and ensuring that relevant teams have the necessary support.

Quality and patient safety professionals can contribute by examining where staff knowledge, communication, or professional judgment affect existing safety processes. They may also help determine whether education has addressed the operational problems for which it was introduced.

The contribution of nonclinical personnel should not be overlooked.

Engineering and facilities teams may require competencies related to the equipment and infrastructure they operate and maintain. Pharmacy personnel may need to consider relevant storage requirements, temperature-sensitive products, and supply-related responsibilities. Procurement, logistics, cleaning, transport, and other support teams may also need to understand the risks and procedures relevant to their work.

Some personnel are employed directly by healthcare organizations, while others provide contracted services. Training, communication, and oversight arrangements should reflect the actual responsibilities and applicable requirements of each group.

These examples are not intended to establish a universal competency checklist. They illustrate why workforce development should begin with what people are expected and authorized to do, the decisions they need to make, and the circumstances in which they perform their work.

A shared foundation in climate and health may be useful across several professions. More specific competencies should reflect professional scope, organizational responsibilities, local risks, and the services being provided.

Designing Education Around Real Responsibilities

An effective workforce development program should begin with an understanding of what personnel need to do differently or more reliably in their work.

A healthcare organization might first identify a climate-related concern relevant to its services and consider which professional groups are involved. It can then examine what those groups already know, which responsibilities they perform, and whether additional learning would help them carry out those responsibilities more effectively.

This process may reveal that some learning needs are shared across departments while others are specific to particular professions. For example, several teams may need to understand a common reporting procedure, but only certain personnel may require detailed clinical or technical knowledge.

Once these differences are clear, educators can define realistic learning objectives. Rather than simply stating that participants should become more aware of climate change, an objective should describe something they are expected to understand, explain, recognize, or demonstrate.

Depending on the role, this may involve identifying a relevant concern, finding an appropriate source of information, applying an established procedure, communicating through a defined pathway, or recognizing when a decision requires additional expertise.

Training methods should then be selected according to the intended learning outcomes.

Foundational knowledge may be developed through short courses, lectures, or online resources. More complex responsibilities may require case discussions, supervised practice, demonstrations, or simulation.

There is no reason to assume that every climate-health learning objective requires an extensive standalone course.

In many healthcare organizations, relevant content may be incorporated into existing educational activities. Clinical education, infection prevention, occupational safety, patient safety, quality improvement, public health training, and leadership development can all provide suitable settings when climate-related topics connect with their established purposes.

Integration may improve accessibility and reduce duplication, but it needs to be purposeful. Adding a few slides about climate change to an existing presentation does not necessarily improve competence. What matters is whether the activity addresses a genuine learning need and helps participants understand how the information applies to their responsibilities.

Practical constraints should also be considered. Staff availability, workload, educational resources, and opportunities for supervised learning differ considerably between healthcare organizations.

A focused learning activity addressing a relevant professional problem may be more useful than a lengthy course covering many subjects without a clear connection to everyday practice.

Using Realistic Scenarios to Connect Learning With Practice

Scenario-based learning can help healthcare organizations examine whether personnel understand their responsibilities and can work effectively with others.

Consider an outpatient healthcare facility preparing for a period of unusually high temperatures.

An introductory training session might explain the health effects of extreme heat and identify groups that may be more vulnerable. This provides useful knowledge, but it does not show how different teams would apply that knowledge during routine operations.

A practical exercise could examine how relevant information should be handled within the facility.

Clinical practitioners might discuss how heat exposure and related risk factors should be considered during patient assessment and counseling. Nursing personnel could examine which observations or patient concerns need to be communicated. Operational staff might review how unsuitable conditions in patient waiting areas are reported, while managers consider how information, responsibilities, and decisions should be coordinated.

The exercise would not require everyone to make the same decisions. Instead, it would examine whether each participant understands the tasks associated with their role and how those tasks connect with the responsibilities of other teams.

A discussion may reveal that staff recognize a problem but are uncertain about whom to contact. Another may show that a procedure exists but is difficult to apply during routine operations.

Such findings can be valuable because the appropriate response may not always be additional training. Sometimes, clearer instructions, better communication, improved supervision, or more appropriate resources are needed.

Scenario-based learning can take several forms, including facilitated case discussions, tabletop exercises, supervised demonstrations, and practical simulations. The method should reflect the responsibilities being assessed, the risks involved, and the organization's available resources.

Where clinical decisions are involved, scenarios should be developed and reviewed by appropriately qualified professionals, consistent with applicable professional guidance, authorized scopes of practice, and patient safety requirements.

Successful performance in a simulation does not establish that someone will respond effectively in every real-world situation. Nevertheless, a well-designed exercise can provide useful evidence about selected capabilities and reveal problems that may otherwise remain unnoticed.

Measuring Competence Rather Than Training Attendance

Healthcare organizations commonly record how many staff members attend educational activities and how many complete training programs. These measures are useful for monitoring participation, but they should not be confused with evidence of competence.

A certificate of attendance may confirm participation. It does not necessarily demonstrate that a person can apply what was taught, particularly when the activity did not include an appropriate assessment.

A more meaningful evaluation begins with the intended learning outcome.

If training is designed to improve recognition of a particular concern, an assessment might examine whether participants can identify relevant information in a realistic case. If the objective concerns communication, an exercise may help determine whether personnel understand when, how, and to whom information should be escalated.

For selected clinical or technical responsibilities, supervised observation or practical demonstration may be more appropriate than a written knowledge test. The method should reflect the capability being assessed, the professional responsibilities involved, and the potential consequences of poor performance.

Organizations also need to distinguish individual learning outcomes from wider organizational performance.

A worker may demonstrate appropriate knowledge but still be unable to perform a task because resources are unavailable, responsibilities are unclear, or the necessary organizational support has not been established.

Evaluation should therefore consider whether problems identified during education or practical exercises have been addressed.

If a multidisciplinary exercise reveals uncertainty about decision-making authority, the most relevant improvement may be to clarify responsibilities and communication arrangements. Repeating the same lecture is unlikely to resolve a problem that is primarily organizational.

WHO's Indicators of Climate Resilience and GHG Emissions in Health Systems, published in March 2026, provides additional international guidance on monitoring progress across the ten components of its operational framework.

This resource can inform thinking about climate-related monitoring, but it does not establish mandatory individual climate-health competency scores for healthcare personnel in Viet Nam.

Healthcare organizations may develop proportionate internal measures according to their objectives. These could examine whether priority roles have defined learning needs, whether selected capabilities can be demonstrated, and whether improvement actions identified during exercises have been completed.

Such measures should be presented as locally selected indicators unless they have been formally adopted within another applicable framework.

Their interpretation also requires care. Better performance during training does not automatically demonstrate fewer patient safety incidents or greater organizational climate resilience. Those outcomes depend on multiple factors, including clinical practice, organizational management, infrastructure, resources, and external conditions.

The purpose of evaluation is to understand what learning has achieved, what remains uncertain, and where further improvement is needed.

Protecting Healthcare Workers Is Part of Workforce Readiness

A climate-ready workforce must also be able to perform its responsibilities under appropriate working conditions.

Climate-related environmental pressures can affect healthcare workers themselves, not only the patients and communities they serve. Extreme heat, adverse air quality, severe weather, and other environmental conditions may create occupational risks. Their significance depends on the work environment, the tasks being performed, individual circumstances, and existing protective measures.

The International Labour Organization's 2024 report, Ensuring Safety and Health at Work in a Changing Climate, highlights the importance of addressing climate-related hazards through occupational safety and health systems.

In August 2025, WHO and the World Meteorological Organization published Climate Change and Workplace Heat Stress: Technical Report and Guidance, emphasizing risk-based prevention and protection measures suited to different working environments.

These publications reinforce an important distinction: education can help workers recognize hazards, but they should not be expected to manage those hazards through individual knowledge alone.

Employers and organizational leaders retain responsibilities under applicable occupational safety and health requirements. Depending on the work setting, appropriate protection may involve environmental conditions, equipment, safe procedures, supervision, staffing arrangements, and mechanisms for identifying and reporting concerns.

The necessary measures will vary according to the organization and the activities involved.

For healthcare managers, this means workforce development should be considered alongside the conditions that allow staff to work safely and effectively. A well-trained employee who lacks the necessary resources or authority may still be unable to perform as expected.

Recognizing and addressing such limitations is part of workforce governance, not simply an educational issue.

What This Means for Viet Nam

Viet Nam has already established policy directions relevant to climate change and health.

Ministry of Health Decision No. 7562/QD-BYT, dated December 24, 2018, approved the health sector's climate change response action plan for 2019–2030, with a vision to 2050.

The plan recognizes climate-related health risks and the importance of strengthening the health sector's capacity to respond.

At the national level, Prime Minister's Decision No. 1422/QD-TTg, dated November 19, 2024, approved the updated National Climate Change Adaptation Plan for 2021–2030, with a vision to 2050.

These policy directions provide a relevant context for healthcare workforce development. However, they should not be interpreted as establishing a single standardized climate-health competency requirement for every professional role in healthcare facilities.

Practical capacity-building activities are already taking place in parts of the Vietnamese health sector.

On October 16, 2025, the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology worked with the Ha Tinh Center for Disease Control to organize training concerning climate change prevention and response in the health sector.

According to the Ha Tinh Department of Health, participants received information about climate-related health impacts and were introduced to tools for assessing vulnerability and adaptive capacity. They also participated in practical discussions and activities related to local planning.

A September 28, 2026, report published by Suc Khoe & Doi Song, the Ministry of Health's newspaper, described further capacity-building activities in Tuyen Quang.

The report noted that the provincial Center for Disease Control had organized training and guidance for personnel from different healthcare facilities. The activities involved 167 participants representing commune health stations, regional health centers, hospitals, and other healthcare organizations.

Topics included climate-related health concerns, environmental protection, healthcare waste management, and preparedness for severe weather.

These examples demonstrate that educational and capacity-building initiatives are being introduced in specific local settings. They do not, however, establish that all healthcare organizations have comparable capabilities or that participation has produced measurable improvements in workplace performance.

This distinction is important when considering how international frameworks might be adapted in Viet Nam.

Healthcare organizations vary considerably in size, services, staffing, technical resources, and local environmental conditions. The competencies relevant to a large referral hospital may differ from those needed in an outpatient clinic, a district-level healthcare facility, or a commune health station.

A practical approach should therefore reflect the organization's responsibilities, service population, local risks, and implementation capacity.

For some facilities, an appropriate starting point may be to identify a small number of relevant learning priorities and the personnel involved. Others may be able to integrate climate-health topics into established professional development or quality improvement activities.

Organizations with more developed educational systems may be able to support structured multidisciplinary learning, practical exercises, and internal assessments.

The aim should not be to introduce the largest possible training program. It should be to develop capabilities that personnel can use safely and effectively within their actual working environment.

Applying International Guidance Within Viet Nam's Legal Framework

Climate-health workforce development in Viet Nam needs to remain consistent with applicable laws, professional requirements, and organizational responsibilities.

The Law on Medical Examination and Treatment, No. 15/2023/QH15, effective January 1, 2024, provides an important foundation for professional practice and continuing medical education.

Article 22 establishes continuing medical education responsibilities for specified categories of healthcare practitioners, with learning required to be appropriate to their scope of practice.

The Article also recognizes different forms of continuing medical education, including relevant training activities, professional conferences and workshops, scientific research, teaching, development of educational and professional materials, self-directed learning, and other forms prescribed by the Ministry of Health.

Article 105 addresses the responsibility of healthcare facilities to organize and facilitate training, continuing medical education, and professional development for practitioners.

Ministry of Health Circular No. 32/2023/TT-BYT provides detailed provisions concerning continuing medical education and other matters under the Law.

The Circular should be interpreted together with subsequent amendments where applicable, including Circular No. 25/2026/TT-BYT, dated June 30, 2026, which took effect on August 15, 2026.

Circular No. 25/2026/TT-BYT amended selected provisions concerning healthcare professional and technical matters within its defined scope. It should not be interpreted as introducing a separate mandatory climate-health competency or certification requirement.

Climate-health topics may be relevant to recognized professional learning activities where they relate appropriately to practitioners' professional responsibilities and scopes of practice.

However, the relevance of a subject does not automatically establish that every related course, workshop, or certificate qualifies for formal continuing medical education credit.

Eligibility for recognized learning hours or credits and the issuance of relevant documentation must comply with applicable requirements governing educational activities, organizing entities, assessment, and recordkeeping.

The distinction between education and professional authorization is equally important.

Participation in climate-health training does not independently expand a practitioner's licensed scope of practice or authorize clinical, technical, or organizational decisions that the individual would otherwise not be permitted to make.

Occupational safety and health legislation provides another relevant legal consideration.

The Law on Occupational Safety and Hygiene, No. 84/2015/QH13, as amended, establishes responsibilities concerning workplace safety and health.

Where environmental conditions create relevant occupational hazards, healthcare organizations should address them through applicable occupational safety and management arrangements. General climate awareness training should not be presented as a substitute for legally required protective measures or other mandatory professional training.

International competency frameworks also need to be interpreted according to their intended purpose.

The WHO operational framework, GCCHE core concepts, World Bank competency framework, and related research can support educational planning and professional learning. They do not automatically become binding Vietnamese regulatory requirements, professional licensing conditions, or healthcare accreditation criteria.

Likewise, the term climate-ready healthcare workforce is used in this article as a descriptive professional concept. It is not presented as an officially established Vietnamese qualification, protected professional title, or government-recognized certification.

Healthcare organizations and educational providers should remain clear about the purpose and status of their activities, particularly when communicating learning outcomes, certificates, competency assessments, or claims of compliance.

International guidance can inform improvement, but it does not replace applicable Vietnamese law or professional accountability.

Building Competence Through Existing Healthcare Systems

Climate-health workforce development is more likely to be practical and sustainable when it strengthens existing educational and management systems.

Many healthcare organizations already conduct activities involving clinical education, continuing professional development, infection prevention, occupational safety, quality improvement, and patient safety.

Where climate-related learning needs overlap with these responsibilities, integration may be more appropriate than establishing a separate program.

For example, a clinical education team may incorporate relevant environmental exposure considerations into an existing professional learning activity. A quality department may facilitate a case discussion examining communication between teams. An occupational safety team may review whether personnel understand the procedures applicable to environmental hazards in their workplaces.

The value of this approach is that new knowledge becomes connected with familiar responsibilities and established organizational processes. It can also help organizations identify where existing education is sufficient and where additional learning would provide meaningful value.

However, integration requires coordination.

If several departments independently introduce climate-health content without clear responsibilities, learning needs may be overlooked or unnecessarily repeated. Healthcare managers may therefore need to establish practical arrangements for identifying priorities, coordinating educational activities, and reviewing results.

This does not necessarily require creating a new department or appointing a dedicated climate specialist.

In some organizations, existing education, quality, public health, or management personnel may be able to coordinate relevant activities with support from qualified professionals.

Collaboration with academic institutions, healthcare educators, public health organizations, and technical specialists may also help strengthen workforce development. Such collaboration should be guided by clearly defined objectives, appropriate expertise, professional responsibilities, and realistic expectations about the outcomes that can be achieved.

The objective is not to create a parallel education system. It is to make relevant climate-health knowledge and skills part of the professional learning and organizational improvement activities that healthcare facilities already undertake.

What Climate & Health Vietnam Can Contribute

For Climate & Health Vietnam (CHVN), climate-ready workforce development is an area where international evidence can support professional learning, healthcare quality improvement, and implementation-oriented collaboration.

The subject connects climate-resilient healthcare with patient safety, governance, and the practical capabilities needed within healthcare organizations.

CHVN can contribute by examining international competency frameworks, explaining their intended purposes and limitations, and exploring how relevant concepts may inform professional education in Viet Nam.

A particularly useful contribution would be helping healthcare organizations distinguish general climate-health awareness from the competencies needed for particular clinical, public health, management, and operational functions.

This may involve synthesizing credible evidence, discussing potential learning needs, sharing implementation experiences, and facilitating exchanges among healthcare educators, clinicians, public health professionals, quality managers, organizational leaders, and technical specialists.

CHVN may also support professional discussions about how learning objectives can be connected with actual responsibilities and how selected competencies might be assessed without creating unnecessary administrative burdens.

Where appropriate, collaboration with qualified educational institutions and professional organizations could help inform the design or evaluation of relevant learning activities.

These activities should remain consistent with CHVN's actual expertise, resources, professional scope, and applicable legal requirements.

CHVN should not present its educational resources as official WHO or World Bank competency standards, imply endorsement by those organizations, or claim authority to establish mandatory national professional requirements.

It should also distinguish educational participation from formal continuing medical education recognition, professional licensing, accreditation, or certification.

Where educational activities involve clinical cases, staff performance information, or other potentially sensitive information, appropriate confidentiality, personal data protection, and professional safeguards should be maintained.

CHVN's appropriate role is to make credible international evidence more accessible, explain its relevance to the Vietnamese healthcare context, and encourage informed professional learning and collaboration.

The value of such work lies in supporting better understanding and implementation rather than creating another certification framework.

From Learning to Safer Practice

Building a climate-ready healthcare workforce is not simply a matter of increasing the number of people who understand climate change.

It requires healthcare organizations to consider what different personnel need to know, which responsibilities they must be able to perform, and how learning can be connected with everyday professional practice.

Some competencies will be shared across healthcare professions. Others will depend on the individual's role, authorized scope of practice, clinical or operational responsibilities, and the circumstances in which care is delivered.

Effective workforce development should recognize these differences while avoiding unnecessary complexity.

It should also acknowledge that professional competence does not operate independently of organizational conditions. Personnel need appropriate resources, clear responsibilities, reliable communication, supervision, and opportunities to apply what they have learned.

For Viet Nam, a role-based approach offers a practical way to build on existing professional education and healthcare quality improvement activities while strengthening the capacity to respond to relevant climate-related health risks.

The goal is not to create another certificate for healthcare professionals to collect. It is to ensure that learning helps people perform their responsibilities more safely and effectively, with the support they need from their organizations.

A climate-ready healthcare workforce is not defined by how much staff know about climate change, but by their ability to apply relevant knowledge within their roles, work effectively with others, and contribute to safe, reliable care as environmental conditions change.

Selected References and Policy Context

International Guidance and Evidence

World Health Organization. Operational Framework for Building Climate Resilient and Low Carbon Health Systems. November 9, 2023.

World Health Organization. Communicating on Climate Change and Health: Toolkit for Health Professionals. March 22, 2024.

Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Climate and Health Core Concepts for Health Professionals. 2025 edition.

World Health Organization. COP30 Special Report on Health and Climate Change. November 14, 2025.

World Health Organization, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. Building a Climate-Smart Health Workforce: Insights for Policy and Practice. November 5, 2025.

World Health Organization. Indicators of Climate Resilience and GHG Emissions in Health Systems. March 11, 2026.

World Bank. Climate and Health Competency Framework: A Common Reference for Strengthening Competencies Across Government. October 20, 2026.

Tomar, P., and Rao, N. V. Tailoring Climate–Health Competencies for Diverse Health Cadres: Findings From a Scoping Review. Journal of Climate Change and Health. 2026;29:100675.

International Labour Organization. Ensuring Safety and Health at Work in a Changing Climate. April 22, 2024.

World Health Organization and World Meteorological Organization. Climate Change and Workplace Heat Stress: Technical Report and Guidance. August 22, 2025.

Selected Evidence and Experience From Viet Nam

Ha Tinh Department of Health. Nang Cao Nang Luc Ung Pho Voi Bien Doi Khi Hau Trong Nganh Y Te (Strengthening Climate Change Response Capacity in the Health Sector). October 17, 2025.

Suc Khoe & Doi Song, Ministry of Health. Co So Y Te Chu Dong Thich Ung Voi Bien Doi Khi Hau, Bao Ve Suc Khoe Cong Dong (Healthcare Facilities Proactively Adapt to Climate Change to Protect Community Health). September 28, 2026.

Viet Nam Policy and Regulatory Context

National Assembly. Law on Medical Examination and Treatment No. 15/2023/QH15, effective January 1, 2024, as amended where applicable, particularly Articles 22 and 105.

Ministry of Health. Circular No. 32/2023/TT-BYT, dated December 31, 2023, detailing certain provisions of the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment, as amended where applicable.

Ministry of Health. Circular No. 25/2026/TT-BYT, dated June 30, 2026, amending selected provisions of Circular No. 32/2023/TT-BYT and other Ministry of Health instruments, effective August 15, 2026.

National Assembly. Law on Occupational Safety and Hygiene No. 84/2015/QH13, effective July 1, 2016, as amended.

Ministry of Health. Decision No. 7562/QD-BYT, dated December 24, 2018, approving the health sector's climate change response action plan for 2019–2030, with a vision to 2050.

Prime Minister of Viet Nam. Decision No. 1422/QD-TTg, dated November 19, 2024, approving the updated National Climate Change Adaptation Plan for 2021–2030, with a vision to 2050.

Professional scope: This article is intended for professional education, evidence synthesis, and knowledge sharing. It does not establish a national climate-health competency framework, mandatory professional training requirements, clinical practice standards, continuing medical education credit eligibility, or accreditation or certification criteria. The role-based examples are illustrative and should not be interpreted as authorizing activities outside an individual's professional scope. References to WHO, the World Bank, and other international organizations do not imply their endorsement of Climate & Health Vietnam or its activities. Healthcare organizations and educational providers should apply current Vietnamese laws, applicable professional requirements, and qualified clinical, public health, educational, occupational safety, and organizational judgment when developing or evaluating workforce competencies.