Search

Tackling childhood overweight and obesity is critical not only to improve the health and well-being of children and adolescents, but also for entire populations and future generations. This paper provides the latest evidence on the extent of, and risk factors for, childhood overweight and obesity in Vietnam. The landscape analysis tool developed by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization (WHO) was used. A search for peer-reviewed articles in English on online databases was undertaken. Peer-reviewed Vietnamese articles were also retrieved from a range of sources. The prevalence of overweight among children aged under 5 years increased from 5.6% in 2010 to 7.4% in 2019. For overweight and obesity among children aged 5 to 19 years, prevalence rose from 8.5% and 2.5% in 2010 to 19% and 8.1% in 2020, respectively. Maternal malnutrition, gestational diabetes during pregnancy, and inadequate infant and young child feeding practices are all risk factors for early childhood overweight. Unhealthy diets, insufficient physical activity, and lack of sleep are among the risk factors for overweight and obesity among school aged children and adolescents. The prevention of overweight and obesity among Vietnamese children requires a whole-of-government, cross-sectoral approach to addresses the obesogenic environment that is negatively influencing the nutrition of children.

The study aimed to estimate the cost for developing and implementing 2 smoking cessation service delivery models that were evaluated in a 2-arm cluster randomized trial in Commune Health Centers (CHCs) in Vietnam. In the first model (4As) CHC providers were trained to ask about tobacco use, advise smokers to quit, assess readiness to quit, and assist with brief counseling. The second model included the 4As plus a referral to Village Health Workers (VHWs) who were trained to provide multisession home-based counseling (4As + R). An activity-based ingredients (ABC-I) costing approach with a healthcare provider perspective was applied to collect the costs for each intervention model. Opportunity costs were excluded. Costs during preparation and implementation phase were estimated. Sensitivity analysis of the cost per smoker with the included intervention’ activities were conducted. The cost per facility-based counseling session ranged from USD 9 to USD 11. Cost per home-based counseling session at 4As + R model was USD 4. The non-delivery cost attributed to supportive activities (eg, Monitoring, Logistic, Research, General training) was USD 107 per counseling session. Cost per smoker ranged from USD 6 to USD 451. The study analyzed and compared cost of implementing and scaling community-based smoking cessation service models in Vietnam.

Patient satisfaction has implications for resource distribution across primary, secondary, and tertiary care, as well as accessibility of quality services and equity of service delivery. This study assessed outpatient satisfaction with health services and explored the determinants at the individual and contextual levels in Vietnam. Data on 4372 outpatients were extracted from the Vietnam Health Facility Assessment survey 2015. Three levels of logistic regression were applied to examine the association between outpatient satisfaction and three types of explanatory variables. Outpatients satisfied with their community health center or district hospital accounted for relatively high proportions (85% and 73%, respectively). Patients’ age, occupation, and individual characteristics were significant predictors of patient satisfaction, whereas provincial level factors were not significantly associated with the dependent variable. When individual-level characteristics were controlled, outpatients who had a longer waiting time for health services were less likely to report being satisfied. Interventions for improving outpatient satisfaction should pay attention to simplifying the health procedure at health facilities to reduce patients’ waiting time and increase their examining time.

Smoking is a global health problem among health science students. The objectives of this study were to estimate the prevalence of smoking and to examine associated factors among health science students from five universities in Vietnam. Among 5946 participants (95.0% response rate), the smoking prevalence was 19.2% (95% CI:17.4–21.0%) among male students and 2.9% (95% CI:2.4–3.5%) among female students. In the multivariable regression models, significant factors for smoking were the perceived financial burden, the respondent’s year in university, a non-self-determined motivation profile, self-reported depression and/or anxiety, the level of vigorous physical activity, and alcohol drinking.

Background: Achieving access to clean water and basic sanitation remains as major challenges in Vietnam, especially for vulnerable groups such as minority people, despite all the progress made by the Millennium Development Goal number 7.C. Objectives: The study aimed to describe the access to improved water sources and sanitation of the ethnic minority people in Vietnam based on a national survey and to identify associated factors. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2019 with a sample size of 1385 ethnic minority households in 12 provinces in Vietnam. Multivariate logistic regression modeling was performed to examine the probability of having access to improved water sources and sanitation and sociodemographic status at a significance level of P Results: The access to improved water sources and sanitation was unequal among the ethnic minority people in Vietnam, with the lowest access rate in the northern midland and mountainous and Central Highland areas and the highest access rate in the Mekong Delta region. Some sociodemographic variables that were likely to increase the ethnic minority people’s access to improved water sources and/or sanitation included older age, female household heads, household heads with high educational levels, religious households, and households in not poor status. Conclusion and recommendations: The study suggested more emphasis on religion for improving the ethnic minority’s access to improved water sources and sanitation. Besides, persons of poor and near-poor status and with low educational levels should be of focus in future water and sanitation intervention programs.

Dengue fever/dengue hemorrhagic fever (DF/DHF) has been an important public health challenge in Viet Nam and worldwide. This study was implemented in 2016-2017 using retrospective secondary data to explore associations between monthly DF/DHF cases and climate variables during 2008 to 2015. There were 48 175 DF/DHF cases reported, and the highest number of cases occurred in November. There were significant correlations between monthly DF/DHF cases with monthly mean of evaporation ( r = 0.236, P < .05), monthly relative humidity ( r = −0.358, P < .05), and monthly total hours of sunshine ( r = 0.389, P < .05). The results showed significant correlation in lag models but did not find direct correlations between monthly DF/DHF cases and monthly average rainfall and temperature. The study recommended that health staff in Hanoi should monitor DF/DHF cases at the beginning of epidemic period, starting from May, and apply timely prevention and intervention measures to avoid the spreading of the disease in the following months. A larger scale study for a longer period of time and adjusting for other potential influencing factors could better describe the correlations, modelling/projection, and developing an early warning system for the disease, which is important under the impacts of climate change and climate variability.

The Law on Tobacco Control and the Law on Advertisement prohibit the advertising of any tobacco product in Vietnam. Tobacco promotion and marketing are alsostrictly prohibited. However, the violation of tobacco adverting and promotion is still common in Vietnam.This article aims at describing the exposure to tobacco advertising and promotion among the population aged 15+ years in Vietnam based on the data from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey 2015 from the view of the community, identifying any possible associations between the exposure to tobacco advertising and promotion and other individual factors, and discussing its possible public health implications.A cross-sectional study with the nationwide scale. Secondary data from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey 2015 was explored and analyzed. Chi-square test and multivariate logistic regressions were applied in the data analysis.The most common type of adults' exposure to tobacco advertising and promotion was points of sale (8.6%); 9.8% adults exposure to one source of tobacco advertising and 4.0% of them exposed to one source of tobacco promotion. Around 13.3% of Vietnamese adults were exposed to tobacco advertisement, while 2.0% were exposed to tobacco promotion, 5.3% were exposed to both tobacco advertising and promotion, and 16.6% were exposed to tobacco advertising or promotion. Gender, educational level, age, occupation, marital status, socioeconomic status, location (urban, rural), and current smoking status were associated with the exposure to tobacco advertising, tobacco promotion, tobacco advertising and promotion, and tobacco advertising or promotion.Although there are comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising and promotion in Vietnam, adults aged 15+ years still reported their exposure to tobacco advertising and promotion. There should be a strict enforcement of the ban on tobacco advertising and promotion in Vietnam.

The primary health care system in Vietnam has been playing an important role in prevention and control of diseases. This study aimed to describe the capacity of commune health stations in Chi Linh district, Hai Duong province for prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). A mixed-methods (quantitative and qualitative approaches) approach was applied to collect data in 20 commune health stations. The participants, including health workers, stakeholders, and patients with NCDs, were selected for the study. The findings reported that the main activities of prevention and control of NCDs at commune health stations (CHSs) still focused on information-education-community (IECs), unqualified for providing screening, diagnosis, and treatments of NCDs. The capacity for prevention and control of NCDs in CHSs was inadequate to provide health care services related to prevention and control of NCDs and unmet with the community’s demands. In order to ensure the role and implementation of primary care level, there is an urgent need to improve the capacity of CHSs for prevention and control of NCDs, particularly a national budget for NCDs prevention and control, the essential equipment and medicines recommended by the World Health Organization should be provided and available at the CHSs.

Background: The Global Climate Risk Index 2020 ranked Vietnam as the sixth country in the world most affected by climate variability and extreme weather events over the period 1999-2018. Sea level rise and extreme weather events are projected to be more severe in coming decades, which, without additional action, will increase the number of people at risk of climate-sensitive diseases, challenging the health system. This article summaries the results of a health vulnerability and adaptation (V&A) assessment conducted in Vietnam as evidences for development of the National Climate Change Health Adaptation Plan to 2030. Methods: The assessment followed the first 4 steps outlined in the World Health Organization’s Guidelines in conducting “Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessments.” A framework and list of indicators were developed for semi-quantitative assessment for the period 2013 to 2017. Three sets of indicators were selected to assess the level of (1) exposure to climate change and extreme weather events, (2) health sensitivity, and (3) adaptation capacity. The indicators were rated and analyzed using a scoring system from 1 to 5. Results: The results showed that climate-sensitive diseases were common, including dengue fever, diarrheal, influenza, etc, with large burdens of disease that are projected to increase. From 2013 to 2017, the level of “exposure” to climate change–related hazards of the health sector was “high” to “very high,” with an average score from 3.5 to 4.4 (out of 5.0). For “health sensitivity,” the scores decreased from 3.8 in 2013 to 3.5 in 2017, making the overall rating as “high.” For “adaptive capacity,” the scores were from 4.0 to 4.1, which meant adaptive capacity was “very low.” The overall V&A rating in 2013 was “very high risk” (score 4.1) and “high risk” with scores of 3.8 in 2014 and 3.7 in 2015 to 2017. Conclusions: Adaptation actions of the health sector are urgently needed to reduce the vulnerability to climate change in coming decades. Eight adaptation solutions, among recommendations of V&A assessment, were adopted in the National Health Climate Change Adaptation Plan.

Aims: Demographic surveillance systems (DSSs) create platforms to monitor population dynamics. This paper discusses the potential of combining the WHO STEPwise approach to Surveillance (STEPS) within ongoing DSSs, to assess changes in non-communicable disease (NCD) risk factors. Methods: Three DSSs in Ethiopia, Vietnam, and Indonesia have collected NCD risk factors using WHO STEPS, focusing on self-reported lifestyle risk factors (Step 1) and measurement of blood pressure and anthropometric parameters (Step 2). Results: DSSs provide sampling frames for NCD risk factor surveillance, which reveals the distribution of risk factors and their dynamics at the population level. The WHO STEPS approach with its add-on modules is feasible and adaptable in DSS settings. Available mortality data in the DSSs enable mortality assessment by cause of death using verbal autopsy, which is relevant in estimating the impact of NCDs. DSSs as well as risk factor surveillance data may potentially be a lever for hypothesis-driven research to address specific a priori hypotheses or research questions. Conclusion: Combining DSSs with the WHO STEPS approach can potentially address basic epidemiological questions on NCDs, which can be used as a powerful advocacy tool in public health decision-making for NCD prevention.

Background Improved sanitation has been shown to have great impacts on people's health and economy. However, the progress of achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on halving the proportion of people without access to clean water and basic sanitation by 2015 has thus far been delayed. One of the reasons for the slow progress is that policy makers, as well as the general public, have not fully understood the importance of the improved sanitation solutions. This paper, by gathering relevant research findings, aims to report and discuss currently available evidence on the economic aspects of sanitation, including the economic impacts of unimproved sanitation and the costs and economic benefits of some common improved sanitation options in developing countries. Methods Data used in this paper were obtained from different information sources: international and national journal articles and reports, web-based statistics, and fact sheets. We used both online search and hand search methods to gather the information. Results Scientific evidence has demonstrated that the economic cost associated with poor sanitation is substantial. At the global level, failure to meet the MDG water and sanitation target would have ramifications in the area of US$38 billion, and sanitation accounts for 92% of this amount. In developing countries, the spending required to provide new coverage to meet the MDG sanitation target (not including program costs) is US$142 billion (US$ year 2005). This translates to a per capita spending of US$28 for sanitation. Annually, this translates to roughly US$14 million. The evidence complied in this paper demonstrates that investing in sanitation is socially and economically worthwhile. For every US$1 invested, achieving the sanitation MDG target and universal sanitation access in the non OECD countries would result in a global return of US$9.1 and US$11.2, respectively. Conclusion Given the current state of knowledge, sanitation is undeniably a profitable investment. It is clear that achieving the MDG sanitation target not only saves lives but also provides a foundation for economic growth.