Viet Nam
Changing Lives through Restoring Sight
Construction on Da Nang Eye Hospital

The Da Nang Eye Hospital works to provide improved eye care and disease prevention for 11 million people in eight provinces in Viet Nam. More »

Facts at a Glance
  • Around 10 million children live in poverty, as defined by the international poverty line.1
  • On average, seven women die from pregnancy and child birth every day and 82 newborns die prematurely.2
  • Road accidents are the leading cause of death of children 15 years and older. More than 10 children a day died from traffic accidents in 2001. 3

More facts at a glance »

The Situation In Brief

The health care system in Viet Nam, like its economic system, is in transition. It is strained not only by the prevalence of infectious diseases, but increasingly by emerging health problems that traditionally manifest themselves in developed countries, such as injuries and behaviour-related health conditions.

The limited financial resources available to strengthen the health care system have left the poor at special risk to these multiple health challenges. The increasing economic burden of dealing with mounting injury, and behaviour-related conditions also threatens to undermine Viet Nam’s economic development.

To overcome these challenges, Viet Nam must improve the way health information is gathered to more accurately respond to health needs; create a stronger network of professionals to interpret this data and communicate its implications to the public and policy makers; improve ways to promote healthier behaviours; and determine how best to allocate the country’s limited health resources.

Population Health Programme Goals

The goals of the Population Health Programme in Viet Nam are as follows:

  • Support organisations that have the expertise to provide primary care and prevention, but need more physical infrastructure and staffing. To do this, we support joint programmes between these organisations and community-oriented organisations to help reach more people and gather more evidence of what works.
  • Provide support to organisations with local health care initiatives that can be used as models for the rest of the country and help forge an integrated community model of health care.
  • Help establish a national health promotion organisation that creates programmes geared toward modifying unhealthy behaviours – specifically those related to preventable injuries, tobacco use and HIV/AIDS.
  • Improve the way health information is gathered and used by the government. To do this, we support organisations that are creating successful models of how the health care sector interacts with the government, in order to develop policy and decide how to use limited resources.

Population Health Resources

General resources in English

General resources in Vietnamese

Atlantic grantees

More Facts At a Glance

  • An estimated 215,000 people already have HIV/AIDS, with more becoming infected every day.4
  • An estimated 8,500 children between 0-15 are living with HIV, and there are an estimated 22,000 orphans who have lost parents to AIDS.5
Footnotes

1, Source: Viet Nam Households Living Standards Survey, 2002
2, Source: UNICEF
3, Source: Viet Nam Multi-centre Injury Survey, 2001
4, Source: UNICEF
5, Source: MOLISA, 2004

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