Childhood Obesity in Vietnam: Lifelong Health after Gestational Diabetes (VALID III)
How does gestational diabetes affect child health and obesity risk? VALID III follows families in Vietnam to explore the intergenerational social dynamics that shape metabolic health and disease.
Across the globe, a multigenerational epidemiological shift is underway. As diets and economies change, childhood obesity is rising, leaving a growing number of young people metabolically vulnerable. Escalating rates of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) play an important role in this process, as children born to mothers with GDM are significantly more likely to develop obesity.
Building on previous research on GDM in Vietnam, VALID III investigates whether a co-created intergenerational health intervention can reduce the risk of childhood obesity and improve the health of mothers and children after GDM. The intervention is evaluated in a randomised controlled trial (RCT).
Alongside the RCT, ethnographic fieldwork explores how childcare unfolds in families, attending to everyday labour, love and companionship, and to the social conditions under which metabolic health and disease are produced across generations.
VALID III takes an interdisciplinary approach, combining anthropology, public health, nutrition science, and clinical medicine. The project is conducted in Vietnam’s Hung Yen province as an academic partnership between Thai Binh University of Medicine and Pharmacy (TBUMP), the Universities of Copenhagen (UCPH) and Southern Denmark (SDU), and Steno Diabetes Center (SDC) Copenhagen. In Hung Yen, the project collaborates with local health authorities, Thai Binh Maternity Hospital and Kim Ngan Clinic.
The project’s secondary partners include Dr. Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy (Vietnam’s Ministry of Health), Prof. Nguyen Thi Thuy Hanh (Hanoi Medical University), and Prof. Tran Thanh Duong (National Institute of Nutrition).
The VALID III Advisory Committee includes representatives from the Danish Embassy in Vietnam, the Danish Ministry of Health, the NGO “Alive and Thrive”, and Novo Nordisk Vietnam.
Collaboration with the Strategic Sector Cooperation (SSC) project in health
The project is carried out in close collaboration with the Danish-Vietnamese Strategic Sector Cooperation (SSC) project in health: “Strengthening the Frontline Grassroots Health Worker: Prevention and Management of NCDs at the Primary Health Care Level.”
Reaseachers
Intern
| Name | Title | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dan Wolf Meyrowitsch | Professor, Head of Section | +4535327174 | |
| Ib Christian Bygbjerg | Emeritus | +4535327835 | |
| Tine Mette Gammeltoft | Professor | +4535323474 |
External
| Name | Title |
|---|---|
| Professor Jens Søndergaard | Research Unit of General Practice, University of Southern Denmark |
| Dr Nguyen Xuan Bai | Vice-Rector at Thai Binh University of Medicine and Pharmacy |
| Dr Nguyen Duc Thanh | Head of International Department at Thai Binh University of Medicine and Pharmacy |
| Professor Vibeke Rasch | Research unit of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Department of Clinical Research, OUH |
| Professor Christina Anne Vinter | Research unit of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Department of Clinical Research, OUH |
| Associate Professor Ditte Søndergaard Linde | Research unit of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Department of Clinical Research, OUH |
| Postdoc Rasmus Wibæk Christensen |
Researcher at the Steno Diabetes Centre Copenhagen |
Funding
This project is funded by The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Host: Department of Anthropology
Project period: 1 April 2026 - 31 March 2031
PI: Professor Tine M. Gammeltoft