Physical Activity Prescription Organization

Participants gathered on the front yard of Building A1 at dawn. Photo credit: IPAPO

From 6.30 a.m, all participants dressing in the school red iconic uniforms, had gathered in the front yard of A1 Building, Hanoi Medical University. After the commencement speech of Associate Professor Nguyen DucHinh, MD, PhD, Headmaster of the university, and the opening drum, students and staffs had started walking in formation through the pre-determined route: from Building A1, to the Garden of Yersin, passed through the university’s football field and finished on the roof floor of the new dormitory – the latest building which was built to celebrate 113 years of Hanoi Medical University.

Associate Professor Nguyen Duc Hinh, MD, PhD, Headmaster of Hanoi Medical University gave his commencement speech for the movement “Physical Activity – Improving your health”. Photo credit: IPAPO

Participants started running from the front yard of Building A1. Photo credit: IPAPO

“We want to collaborate with Swedish scientists in the field of physical activity, especially Physical Activity Prescription to instruct the healthy, as well as people with diseases.” – Prof. Nguyen DucHinh, chief translator of the book “Physical Activity Prescription in the prevention and treatment of diseases” commented, “Our program, aiming at the staff of the university, at first is for the healthy people, then we are planning on disseminating the project to the inpatients in our hospital, who will be prescribed different activities based on their physical capabilities.”

Associate Professor Nguyen DucHinh, MD, PhD, Headmaster of Hanoi Medical University on his interview with IPAPO

Project IPAPO (The IPAPO initiative) was commenced by Dinh Tien Hoang Institute of Medicine, Association of Physical Activity Prescription of Sweden and Karolinska Institute, Sweden. With the endorsement of the director board of the university, IPAPO has chosen Hanoi Medical University as the first establishment for the trial on physical activity prescription. It is expected that 80 employees of the university would participate in the first project. The project will take place in 24 weeks.

Through the commencement ceremony, the project had attracted great expectation, and IPAPO had expressed the interest to further expand this activity to other establishments in the country. This is the first step to disseminate physical activity prescription not only for normal people, but also for many patients in Vietnam.