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Development of a Framework for Evaluating the Sustainability of Community-based Dengue Control Projects

There are currently no frameworks developed specifically for assessing community-based dengue control project sustainability. We first review the literature for frameworks for assessing project sustainability and second validate the framework criteria against the oldest community-based intervention using Mesocyclops in Xuan Phong commune, Nam Dinh province, north Vietnam, the subject of an intervention in 1998–2000. The framework used 13 criteria, clustered into three categories: 1) maintenance of health benefits from the original project, 2) continued delivery of community activities, and 3) human resource development. To provide consistency between criteria and to allow comparison both over time and with non-intervention communes, a five-point scale for each criterion was used, with the overall sustainability score calculated as the mean of all criteria. The framework offers a practical tool for assessing sustainability, and is amenable to adaptation for specific interventions without compromising the framework as a whole.

Received June 9, 2008. Accepted for publication September 12, 2008.

Acknowledgments: The authors thank the staff and key informants at the Vietnam Ministry of Health, National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE); provincial, district, and commune health centers at Nam Dinh Province; and the people of Xuan Phong and Lien Minh communes. We especially thank Assoc Prof Vu Sinh Nam (Vietnam MoH), Nguyen T. Yen (NIHE), Phan V.D. Hang, and Do D. Luu (Nam Dinh Provincial Center for Preventive Medicine) for comments and support throughout the project.

Financial support: This study was carried out independently by TTTH and TMQ as a field research project component of a MPH degree, with BHK and PSH as advisors. We thank the Atlantic Philanthropies for awarding TTTH and TMQ scholarships to the University of Queensland and the Australian Foundation of Peoples of Asia and the Pacific, especially Simon Kutcher, for financing this study through AusAID, Canberra.

^* Address correspondence to Brian H. Kay, Australian Centre for International and Tropical Health, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Post Office Royal Brisbane Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland 4029, Australia. E-mail: briank{at}qimr.edu.au

Authors’ addresses: Tran Thi Tuyet Hanh, Environmental Health Department, Hanoi School of Public Health, 138 Giang Vo Street, Hanoi, Vietnam. Tran Minh Quy, Institute of Malariology, Parasitology and Entomology, Quy Nhon, Vietnam. Brian H. Kay, Australian Centre for International and Tropical Health, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Post Office Royal Brisbane Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland 4029, Australia. Peter S. Hill, School of Population Health, University of Queensland Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Reprint requests: Brian Kay, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Post Office Royal Brisbane Hospital, Qld 4029, Australia, E-mail: brian.kay{at}qimr.edu.au.