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Background: The psychosocial impact of COVID-19 is greater among healthcare workers (HCWs) than the general population. This study aims to identify psychosocial problems faced by HCWs in Vietnam during the national partial lockdown between 1 and 22 April 2020 and to identify risk factors associated with psychosocial issues among this population. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the second week of April 2020 during the national lockdown in Vietnam. Snowball sampling technique was used to recruit participants through web-based surveys. The Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R) was used to assess the impact of COVID-19 on HCWs through online surveys. Results: Of the 349 HCWs, we found 22.6% reported psychosocial problems. Most of participants reported having exposure to COVID-19 daily (48.7%). The majority of them also felt that their job put them at risk of SARS-CoV-2 infections (90.3%) and expressed fear of potential infection (85.7%). Despite COVID-19 risks, 95.4% of participants, however, expressed their willingness to continue working at their current health facility. In addition, 94.8% of participants believed if they or their family members had been infected, their agency leaders would have provided them with appropriate medical care. Lastly, HCWs who worked in the internal medicine department who did not take care of COVID-19 patients or expressed fear of becoming infected were more likely to have higher total IES-R scores. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the support of healthcare leaders and assurance of care might be helpful in mitigating the psychological effects of COVID-19 among HCWs in Vietnam. These resources should be tailored to HCWs who are working in different areas of health services, including staff who are not working directly with COVID-19 patients. In addition, psychosocial health resources should be provided for not only physicians but also nursing staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review paper presents a framework to evaluate the artificial intelligence (AI) readiness for the healthcare sector in developing countries: a combination of adequate technical or technological expertise, financial sustainability, and socio-political commitment embedded in a healthy psycho-cultural context could bring about the smooth transitioning toward an AI-powered healthcare sector. Taking the Vietnamese healthcare sector as a case study, this paper attempts to clarify the negative and positive influencers. With only about 1500 publications about AI from 1998 to 2017 according to the latest Elsevier AI report, Vietnamese physicians are still capable of applying the state-of-the-art AI techniques in their research. However, a deeper look at the funding sources suggests a lack of socio-political commitment, hence the financial sustainability, to advance the field. The AI readiness in Vietnam's healthcare also suffers from the unprepared information infrastructure—using text mining for the official annual reports from 2012 to 2016 of the Ministry of Health, the paper found that the frequency of the word "database" actually decreases from 2012 to 2016, and the word has a high probability to accompany words such as "lacking", "standardizing", "inefficient", and "inaccurate." Finally, manifestations of psycho-cultural elements such as the public's mistaken views on AI or the non-transparent, inflexible and redundant of Vietnamese organizational structures can impede the transition to an AI-powered healthcare sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract An explosion of Internet and social network sites (SNSs) among Vietnamese youths and adolescents increases the likelihood of being exposed or influenced by risky perceptions and beliefs from online peers, leading to the development of risk behaviors, especially new habits such as shisha smoking. However, evidence about the online peer influence on the occurrence of shisha smoking is limited. The objective of this study is to determine the associations between online peer influence and the shisha use among young Internet active users in Vietnam. An online cross-sectional study was conducted with 1041 young people, who were recruited by respondent-driven sampling method. The study found that 4.1% have had smoked shisha in the last 12 months. Among participants, 52.9% and 49.5% reported frequently visited places and engaged in activities recommended by online friends, respectively. People who were male (OR = 4.04; 95%CI = 1.94–8.41), of older age (OR = 1.27; 95%CI = 1.06–1.54) and having higher levels of "visiting places recommended by online friends" (OR = 3.05; 95%CI = 1.84–5.06) were more likely to smoke shisha. This study highlighted the influence of online peers on the occurrence of shisha smoking among youths and adolescents. Future interventions should educate young people to understand the harmful effects of shisha smoking as well as risky online presentations and online interactions. Highlights • 4.1% online youths smoked shisha. • Higher levels of visiting places recommended by online friends were more likely to smoke shisha • Future interventions should educate young people to understand the harmful effects of shisha smoking as well as risky online presentations and online interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The increasing popularity of Internet raises challenges in preventing the negative influences of the Internet, particularly internet addiction (IA) on lifestyles, including physical activity. However, there has been a scarcity of evidence about the relationship between IA and physical activity among Vietnamese youths. The aim of this study was to see if there is an association between IA and physical activity in Vietnamese adolescents and youths. An online cross-sectional study with 589 Vietnamese adolescents and youths was conducted between August 2015 and October 2015 by using the respondent-driven sampling technique (RDS). Short-form Internet addiction test (s-IAT) and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire – Short form (Iphysical activityQ-SF) were employed to measure IA and level of physical activity. The results revealed that 23.1% of the participants were found to be inactive in physical activity. Our study did not reveal any association between IA and physical activity in Vietnamese youths and adolescents. We found that the level of physical activity was low to moderate for the majority of the participants, showing that necessary steps are required to provide early intervention in order to emphasize the importance and the benefits of physical activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We studied housing & working conditions among migrants vs. non-migrants in Vietnam. • Migrants reported higher income but also more hazardous working conditions. • Stronger social protection policy and information channels for migrants are needed. While internal migrants in Vietnam have been a key driving force in the country's rapid economic development, they also face many vulnerabilities. Our study seeks to explore possible inequalities in housing and working conditions between local and internal migrant industrial workers in Vietnam. Cross-sectional surveys were conducted with 1200 industrial workers in four regions of Vietnam. Dependent variables included housing conditions (satisfaction with convenience of accommodation, sanitation and water of accommodation, and accommodation in general) and working conditions (satisfaction with income, monthly income, number of hazardous working conditions, and work-related stress measured through the modified Effort-Reward Imbalance Questionnaire). The primary independent variable is migrant status. Covariates included region, gender, education, marital status, accommodation status, living arrangements, industry, age, monthly income, experience, and working hours. Of the sample, 24.7% (n = 296) were migrants. Overall, no differences were found regarding housing conditions by migrant status. In adjusted regression models, migrants reported higher numbers of hazardous working conditions (β = 0.07, 95 %CI = 0.01–0.13, p = 0.01) and higher monthly income (β = 0.05, 95 %CI = 0.01–0.09, p = 0.02). Recent state-level changes in the Vietnamese household registration system may explain the lack of differences in housing conditions by migrant status. Future research should utilize longitudinal designs to examine impacts over time of state policy on migrants' housing conditions as well as well-being. Regarding working conditions, findings highlight the need for stronger social protection policy and better information channels on occupational health and safety for migrants. Further research, including qualitative studies, is needed to explore why migrants face more hazardous working conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]