Social Prescribing: What It Is, What It Is Not, and Why It Matters for Viet Nam

Social Prescribing: What It Is, What It Is Not, and Why It Matters for Viet Nam

Social prescribing is receiving growing international attention as health systems look beyond clinical care alone to address the wider factors that shape health and well-being. The basic idea is straightforward: medical care matters, but people's health is also influenced by their relationships, living circumstances, financial security, opportunities to be active, sense of purpose and connection with their communities. Social prescribing seeks to create a more structured way of connecting people with appropriate non-clinical support that may help address some of these needs.

What makes social prescribing more than a directory or referral list is the process around that connection. Many established models emphasize understanding what matters to the person, identifying appropriate options with them, supporting access where needed and following up on whether the connection has been useful. In Viet Nam, the published evidence specifically related to social prescribing remains very limited, and formalized social prescribing is still at an early stage. Its development should therefore be informed by international experience without assuming that models created for other health systems can simply be transferred into the Vietnamese context.

Key Points

• Social prescribing connects people with appropriate non-clinical services, activities and community resources that may support their health and well-being.

• It is more than simply providing information or referring someone to an activity. Person-centered conversations, appropriate connection and follow-up are important features of many established models.

• Social prescribing complements healthcare and other professional services. It does not replace medical assessment, diagnosis, treatment or emergency care when these are needed.

• International experience can inform Viet Nam, but responsible implementation requires local adaptation, clear roles and boundaries, capable community partners, appropriate safeguards and evaluation.

What is social prescribing?

The World Health Organization describes social prescribing as a means of connecting patients with a range of non-clinical services in the community to improve health and well-being. The approach reflects a broader understanding that health is shaped not only by disease and healthcare, but also by social, economic and environmental conditions. WHO's implementation toolkit also makes clear that social prescribing approaches need to be adapted to local contexts rather than treated as a fixed model.[1]

The support involved can vary considerably. Depending on a person's needs, preferences and circumstances, it may include physical activity groups, arts and cultural activities, volunteering, peer or caregiver support, opportunities for social connection, nature-based activities, welfare or financial advice, learning opportunities, or other community and social services. There is no single activity that defines social prescribing. What matters is whether the support is appropriate for the individual and whether the pathway helps them make a meaningful connection.

In England, where social prescribing has been incorporated into the National Health Service, social prescribing link workers give people time to explore what matters to them, develop personalized plans and connect with suitable activities, groups and services in the community. Other health systems organize these functions differently, and a dedicated link worker is not the only possible model. Social prescribing is therefore better understood as an approach with core principles than as a single organizational template. NHS England's updated workforce framework also emphasizes clear competencies, supervision, learning and development, and consistent standards for link worker practice.[2,3]

International interest in the field has grown significantly. In January 2026, the World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific and The Lancet Regional Health – Western Pacific released a dedicated series examining social prescribing across the region. In March 2026, WHO designated the United Kingdom's National Academy for Social Prescribing as the WHO Collaborating Centre for Social Prescribing Policy and Development. This followed the designation of SingHealth Community Hospitals in Singapore in 2024 as the first WHO collaborating centre specifically focused on social prescribing. Together, these developments show growing international interest while also highlighting the need to strengthen the evidence base and understand how social prescribing can work across different health systems.[4,5]

Social prescribing is more than a referral

It is tempting to describe social prescribing as a simple pathway: identify a need, find a community resource and make a referral. For some people, brief information or signposting may be all that is needed. For others, the barriers are more complicated. Limited mobility, financial difficulties, caring responsibilities, low confidence, social isolation, unfamiliarity with available services or uncertainty about joining a new group can all make an otherwise appropriate referral ineffective in practice.

This is why relationships are central to many social prescribing models. A person may need time to discuss what matters to them, consider realistic options and decide what they are comfortable trying. They may also need practical support with the first connection and an opportunity to review whether the activity or service is actually helping. The quality of the community resource matters, but so does the quality of the pathway into it.

The evidence supports this more nuanced view, although it should be interpreted carefully. A 2026 scoping review of 115 peer-reviewed empirical studies across 16 countries found considerable variation in how social prescribing was designed and delivered. Reported outcomes included improvements in mental well-being, social connectedness, confidence and everyday functioning, while clinical and health-system outcomes were more variable. Relational continuity, personalized support, meaningful community activities and local implementation conditions emerged as important features. Around 64% of the included studies came from the United Kingdom, which limits how confidently the findings can be transferred to other health systems.[6]

Evidence from the Western Pacific is less developed. A separate 2026 scoping review identified 55 sources, including 42 peer-reviewed studies and 13 gray-literature sources. Most peer-reviewed studies came from Australia, followed by Singapore and New Zealand, while only one was from Viet Nam. The review also found substantial variation in terminology, models, funding arrangements, target populations and implementation approaches. Many activities resembled social prescribing without necessarily being described by that name. Common implementation challenges included limited resources, fragmented referral systems and a lack of standardized evaluation.[7] This is an important reminder that locally generated evidence will be needed if social prescribing develops further in Viet Nam.

What social prescribing is not

Social prescribing should not be presented as an alternative to appropriate healthcare. Community activities cannot replace clinical assessment, diagnosis, medication, psychological treatment, rehabilitation or emergency care when these are needed. Social and clinical needs often coexist, and a person may require both community support and professional healthcare.

Nor is social prescribing simply telling someone to exercise, socialize or join a club. Advice may sometimes be useful, but a person-centered approach begins with the individual's priorities, strengths, circumstances and choices rather than assuming that a particular activity will be beneficial. In the same way, maintaining a directory of community services can support social prescribing, but a directory alone does not create a social prescribing system. Effective pathways also depend on appropriate roles, communication, community capacity, follow-up, safeguards and mechanisms for responding when someone's needs fall outside the scope of community support.

Social prescribing should also not shift responsibility for complex social problems onto individual clinicians or under-resourced community organizations. Housing insecurity, financial hardship, unemployment, loneliness and other social circumstances can affect health, but their causes and solutions extend well beyond healthcare. Social prescribing may help someone reach relevant support, but it cannot substitute for adequate health, social or public services.

The word “prescribing” deserves particular care in Viet Nam. In this context, it should not be interpreted as prescribing medication, creating a new clinical specialty or giving non-clinical personnel authority to perform regulated healthcare activities. Viet Nam's Law on Medical Examination and Treatment governs medical examination and treatment, practitioners, healthcare facilities and related professional activities. Any social prescribing model developed in Viet Nam should therefore maintain clear boundaries between community-based support and activities that fall within regulated healthcare practice.[8]

Why could social prescribing matter for Viet Nam?

The case for exploring social prescribing in Viet Nam is not simply that other countries are already doing it. The more relevant question is whether stronger connections between healthcare, social support and community resources could help respond to needs that affect health but are not always resolved through clinical treatment alone.

This question is increasingly relevant to Viet Nam's health and demographic context. Noncommunicable diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes, account for about 80% of deaths in Viet Nam. These conditions often require long-term prevention, treatment, self-management and support rather than isolated episodes of care.[9] Viet Nam is also aging rapidly. In February 2026, the United Nations Population Fund reported that within a decade more than one in five Vietnamese people is expected to be over 60 years old. This demographic transition increases the importance of healthy aging, long-term care, social participation and stronger connections between formal services, families and communities.[10]

Primary healthcare is another relevant part of the picture. Viet Nam has been strengthening the management of noncommunicable diseases closer to where people live. In September 2026, WHO reported further expansion of community-level services for hypertension and diabetes, supported through collaboration with the Ministry of Health and partners, reaching millions of people through screening and ongoing treatment.[11] This is not social prescribing, and the two should not be conflated. It does, however, illustrate the increasing importance of continuity of care and services that are closer to people's everyday lives.

Social connection also deserves attention in its own right. The 2025 report of the WHO Commission on Social Connection identified loneliness and social isolation as important public-health concerns. The Commission included social prescribing and connector services among community strategies that may support social connection, while noting that social prescribing involves several relationships and should not be treated as a standalone intervention. Instead, it should be considered as one element within broader integrated care.[12]

Viet Nam already has many potential community assets, from local organizations and community groups to physical activity, cultural, educational, volunteering and peer-support activities. Community-based support for older people also provides useful examples of how formal and informal resources can contribute to health, participation and social connection. Intergenerational Self-Help Clubs, for example, have become an important part of community-based support for older people in Viet Nam.[10] These existing models should not automatically be relabeled as social prescribing, but they demonstrate that the country is not starting from an empty community landscape.

The presence of community assets, however, does not automatically make them suitable for referral. Accessibility, affordability, capacity, quality and safety all matter. So does the question of what happens when someone's needs become more complex or require professional intervention. A community resource may be valuable in its own right, but that does not mean it is prepared to become part of a structured health-related pathway.

International evidence should inform, not dictate, the Vietnamese model

Social prescribing has developed most extensively in health systems such as the United Kingdom, while evidence from Asia and the Western Pacific remains comparatively limited. A pathway developed elsewhere should therefore not be treated as a ready-made model for Viet Nam.

Health systems differ in how primary care is organized, how services are financed, which professional roles exist, how social support is provided, how community organizations operate and what people expect from healthcare. Local resources can also vary substantially between large cities, smaller provinces and rural or remote communities. These differences affect who might identify social needs, who should have a “what matters” conversation, how people are connected with community resources, how information is shared and who remains responsible when problems arise.

WHO's implementation toolkit supports adaptation to local context, and recent research suggests that social prescribing outcomes depend on more than the referral itself. Workforce capacity, relationships between organizations, availability and sustainability of community resources, and continuity of support can all influence whether a pathway works in practice.[1,6,7] For Viet Nam, this points toward careful development and testing rather than rapid replication of an overseas model.

Governance will also matter. Roles and boundaries need to be clear, community resources need appropriate assessment and engagement, and pathways should include arrangements for safeguarding and escalation when clinical, mental health, social protection or other professional support is required. Any model that collects, stores, uses or shares personal information must also be designed in accordance with applicable Vietnamese data protection requirements. The Law on Personal Data Protection No. 91/2025/QH15 and Decree No. 356/2025/ND-CP have both been in effect since 1 January 2026 and form an important part of this legal framework.[13,14]

The objective should therefore not be to reproduce British, Singaporean or any other country's version of social prescribing. It should be to understand the principles, examine the evidence and determine what is appropriate, feasible and safe in Vietnamese settings.

Implications for Viet Nam

At this stage, the strongest case for social prescribing in Viet Nam is one for careful exploration and learning. Viet Nam does not need to begin with a large national model. More useful first steps would be to understand local needs, map and assess community assets, identify suitable partners, clarify roles, develop appropriate connection and follow-up pathways, establish safeguards, test approaches in real settings and measure what happens.

This also means being realistic about what social prescribing can and cannot achieve. It cannot fix inadequate housing, poverty, shortages of healthcare services or insufficient community infrastructure by itself. Community organizations should not be expected to absorb additional responsibilities or demand without appropriate capacity and support. A referral to an inaccessible, inappropriate or unprepared resource may add little value, however well intentioned it may be.

The opportunity lies in developing stronger and more intentional connections between healthcare, social support and community resources while preserving appropriate professional boundaries. If social prescribing is explored in Viet Nam, its value should ultimately be judged not by whether the country has adopted an international trend, but by whether locally designed approaches are safe, accessible, meaningful to people and capable of producing outcomes that matter.

Key Takeaway

Social prescribing is best understood not as a prescription in the conventional medical sense, but as a person-centered approach to connecting people with appropriate non-clinical support in their communities.

Its growing international profile makes it relevant to explore in Viet Nam, particularly in the context of noncommunicable diseases, population aging and the wider social factors that affect health and well-being. But relevance does not mean direct transferability. A Vietnamese approach should develop carefully, be informed by evidence, adapted to local communities, aligned with the country's healthcare and legal context, and evaluated to understand what works, for whom and under what conditions.

References

1. World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific. A toolkit on how to implement social prescribing. Manila: World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific; 2022.

2. NHS England. Social prescribing. NHS England. Accessed September 2026.

3. NHS England. Workforce Development Framework for Social Prescribing Link Workers. Version 2. Updated July 2026. Published 13 August 2026.

4. World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific. WHO and The Lancet spotlight social prescribing in new Western Pacific series. 23 January 2026.

5. World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe. When loneliness is the diagnosis, what can family doctors do? WHO designates a new collaborating centre to advance global social prescribing policy and development. 26 March 2026.

6. Kisa A, Kisa S. Models, implementation, and reported outcomes of social prescribing interventions: a scoping review. Frontiers in Public Health. 2026;14:1871347.

7. Lwin KS, Wong MSJ, Tan MH, et al. Organization and implementation of social prescribing in the Western Pacific Region: a scoping review. The Lancet Regional Health – Western Pacific. 2026;67:101714.

8. National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. Law on Medical Examination and Treatment No. 15/2023/QH15. 9 January 2023. Effective 1 January 2024.

9. World Health Organization Viet Nam. Viet Nam unites to tackle top causes of disease and death. 15 December 2025.

10. United Nations Population Fund Viet Nam. Population Ageing in Viet Nam: From Demographic Transition to Development Opportunity. 10 February 2026.

11. World Health Organization Viet Nam. Strengthened grassroots health care brings NCD services to 10 million in Viet Nam. 8 September 2026.

12. World Health Organization. From loneliness to social connection: charting a path to healthier societies. Report of the WHO Commission on Social Connection. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2025.

13. National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. Law on Personal Data Protection No. 91/2025/QH15. 26 June 2025. Effective 1 January 2026.

14. Government of Viet Nam. Decree No. 356/2025/ND-CP detailing certain provisions and measures for implementation of the Law on Personal Data Protection. 31 December 2025. Effective 1 January 2026.

Article Information

Published: 24 September 2026
Last reviewed: 24 September 2026
Publisher: Social Prescribing Vietnam

Disclaimer

This article is provided for educational and informational purposes. It does not constitute medical advice, clinical guidance or official policy. References to international models should be interpreted in the context of Viet Nam's healthcare system, legal framework and local implementation conditions. Regulatory requirements may change, and readers should refer to current Vietnamese legislation and guidance from competent authorities.