University Medical Center Ho Chi Minh City: First Public Healthcare Institution in Vietnam to Receive GA²LEN's AirwaysCARE International Certification

University Medical Center Ho Chi Minh City (UMC) has been officially recognized by the Global Allergy and Asthma European Network (GA²LEN) as meeting the standards of an Allergic Rhinitis and Asthma Centers of Reference and Excellence (AirwaysCARE). This milestone marks a significant turning point, as UMC becomes the first public hospital in Vietnam to join a system of specialized medical centers meeting international standards for the comprehensive management and treatment of respiratory allergic diseases.

AirwaysCARE and GA²LEN: A Rigorous Global Certification Standard

GA²LEN (Global Allergy and Asthma Excellence Network) is a leading global network for clinical research and academic collaboration in the field of allergy and asthma, operating under the auspices of European Union (EU) framework programs. Within this ecosystem, the AirwaysCARE certification is established as a stringent set of international standards designed to align the capabilities of healthcare institutions in diagnosing, phenotyping, and providing long-term management of asthma and allergic rhinitis.

GA²LEN's certification system comprehensively verifies clinical operational capacity through core pillars:

Standardization of clinical processes: The ability to translate and consistently apply global treatment guidelines such as GINA (Global Initiative for Asthma) and ARIA (Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma) into clinical practice in Vietnam, ensuring consistency in every treatment decision.
Proactive patient monitoring and management systems: The ability to establish tools for continuous disease control assessment, early prediction of severe exacerbation risk, and reduction of unwanted emergency hospitalizations.
Scientific research capacity and continuing education: The hospital's leading role in conducting research with practical value and in transferring techniques and updating professional knowledge for the grassroots healthcare network.

Strategic Significance for Public Healthcare Quality Governance

Amid rising rates of allergic respiratory diseases driven by urban environmental pollution, a leading public hospital such as UMC achieving AirwaysCARE certification carries significant practical value.

A defining characteristic of a leading public hospital in Vietnam is the very high daily patient volume it receives. Successfully maintaining an internationally standardized process such as AirwaysCARE is therefore evidence of excellent clinical governance capability. This achievement affirms that UMC not only optimizes treatment efficiency at large scale but also tightly controls patient safety at every smallest step — from intake and definitive diagnosis through in-depth pulmonary function testing to the development of individualized treatment protocols.

The core objective of standardizing to the AirwaysCARE benchmark is to deliver real clinical value to patients, their families, and healthcare staff:

1. Individualized treatment protocols: Patients with asthma and allergic rhinitis accessing care at UMC are classified by clinical phenotype. This process helps limit medication overuse (particularly systemic corticosteroids, which carry the risk of serious side effects) and optimizes individualized treatment as well as the selection of biologic therapies for patients with severe asthma.

2. Long-term disease management and stable respiratory function: Establishing a supportive relationship between healthcare staff and patients. Through health education programs tailored to Vietnam's context and personalized asthma action plans, patients gain stronger self-management skills at home, allowing them to recognize early warning signs and coordinate timely intervention. This helps manage the disease effectively and maintain optimal respiratory function.

3. Management of severe asthma cases: Although patients with severe asthma make up a small proportion of cases, they consume disproportionate healthcare resources and carry a higher mortality risk. Applying the AirwaysCARE standard helps UMC optimize its management process according to strict international benchmarks:

Classifying asthma patients into specific groups for targeted treatment: Through in-depth pulmonary function testing and biological subclinical tests (such as FeNO measurement, total IgE quantification, and blood or sputum eosinophil counts), patients with severe asthma are accurately classified according to their inflammatory mechanism.
Application and personalization of biologic therapies: For cases of severe, uncontrolled asthma despite optimized treatment, UMC is a pioneer in accessing and prescribing targeted biologic therapies (such as anti-IgE, anti-TSLP, and anti-IL-5 agents).

4. Multidisciplinary consultation: Establishing a regular consultation process among specialists in Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Respiratory Medicine, and Otolaryngology (for cases involving combined phenotypes such as chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps). This coordination enables comprehensive assessment of comorbidities, addresses risk factors, and allows for rapid, consensus-based treatment decisions.

Achieving AirwaysCARE certification from GA²LEN affirms UMC's strong commitment to integrating with global medicine. It serves as an important foundation for UMC to continue advancing multicenter scientific research projects, pioneering the application of advanced medical progress, and working toward the sustainable goal of protecting community health and improving quality of life.

University Medical Center Ho Chi Minh City has been officially recognized by GA²LEN as meeting the standards of an Allergic Rhinitis and Asthma Centers of Reference and Excellence, marking a significant step forward in the comprehensive management and treatment of respiratory allergic diseases according to international standards.

Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Nhu Vinh, MD, PhD – Head of the Pulmonary Function Exploration Department, discussed with the professional team the development direction for the Center of Excellence in Severe Asthma Management. This activity contributes to standardizing the process of management, monitoring, and individualized treatment for patients with asthma and allergic rhinitis in accordance with GA²LEN's AirwaysCARE standard.

Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Nhu Vinh, MD, PhD – Head of the Pulmonary Function Exploration Department, presented the evaluation criteria and development direction for the Center of Excellence in Severe Asthma Management. Standardizing the process according to the AirwaysCARE standard helps improve the quality of diagnosis, monitoring, and individualized treatment for patients with asthma and allergic rhinitis.

The staff of the Pulmonary Function Exploration Department took a commemorative photo with GA²LEN's AirwaysCARE certification. This is an important milestone, affirming the professional team's efforts in standardizing the process of care, treatment, and long-term management for patients with asthma and allergic rhinitis.