Community-Based Learning Club for Women’s Health and Infant Development in Rural Vietnam

Perinatal mental health problems are a burden for women and a risk for the healthy development of children. In resource constrained settings stand-alone interventions are effective in treating common perinatal mental disorders, but there is little impact on early childhood development. There is, also only limited evidence available about the impact of integrating mental health interventions into multicomponent programs to improve the health of women and infants in low-and middle-income countries. In this chapter we describe the adaptation and implementation process of integrating mental health sessions into a multicomponent intervention for women’s health and early child development in rural Vietnam. Pilot testing of the intervention demonstrated that it was acceptable, feasible, and well aligned with strategic context, and provided preliminary evidence of impact in Vietnam.