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There is limited understanding of Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Vietnam. This ethnographic study aimed to explore how ASD is represented and managed in the cultural, social and economic contexts of Vietnam, and describe the experiences of families with children with ASD in Hanoi, Vietnam. This study was conducted from 2011 to 2012 in Hanoi and employed a range of methods, including participant observation, in-depth interviews with 27 parents of children with ASD and 17 key informants, and online survey. This study found that within Hanoi, Vietnam, ASD has been culturally and socially constructed as a ‘disease’, ‘karmic demerit’ and ‘family problem’ rather than a life-long developmental disorder that needs support from government. Children with ASD and their families experience various forms of stigma and discrimination. There are limitations in assessment and diagnosis of ASD. Parents of children with ASD have little access to services for their children, and the limited political and economic supports exacerbate their difficulties. This study highlights some of the ways in which the understandings and management of ASD vary cross culturally. It also suggests further attention is required to the provision of appropriate public education, low cost interventions and support for family advocacy groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breast cancer has become the most frequent cancer among women in Vietnam, claiming over 6000 lives a year. In this article we investigate how laypeople explain the causes of this pressing health issue based on an ethnographic study conducted in the Central region of Vietnam in 2019, including hospital observation, interviews with 33 breast cancer patients and focus groups with 21 laypeople. Our findings show that their knowledge of causation is mediated through historical social contexts of warfare, a rapacious market economy, poverty, and cultural configurations of gender roles. Contamination of the environment and food, use of chemicals, failure to follow postpartum practices, breast ailments, and worry are understood to be immediate determinants of breast cancer. These popular accounts are unlikely to recognize biomedical narratives of breast cancer risk that focus upon individual responsibility and lifestyle factors because they may not reflect the lived realities of women. We emphasise the implications for public awareness campaigns to meaningfully engage with the situated social and cultural specificities of breast cancer. • Patients perceive breast cancer as a gendered manifestation of their vulnerability. • People are familiar with biomedical risk models of hazardous food and environment. • The cancer-causing role of poverty is emphasised. • Women refer to their maternal and nurturing obligations to explain their cancers. • Cancer causality becomes a means to articulate attitudes towards the social worlds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]