Vietnam

Vietnam is located in Southeast Asia, bordered on the north and west by China, Laos and Cambodia, and to the east by the South China Sea. With rich farmlands fed by the Red and Mekong River deltas, Vietnam had an ancient and largely peaceful history until the 20th Century. Today, it is struggling to recover from the devastation of the Indochina War (1946–54) and the Vietnam War (1959–75). More than a million Vietnamese were killed and more than a million displaced during those wars, and the nation's infrastructure was decimated. Corruption and mismanagement by Socialist leaders in the post-war period led to high rates of unemployment and widespread poverty. The economy is just beginning to rebound, due to investments in tourism and high-tech industries.

The population is 85,200,000 and growing at 1 percent annually. The birth rate is 16.63 per 1,000 and the death rate is 6.19 per 1,000. Median age is 26.4 years. Life expectancy is 68.27 years for males and 74.08 years for females. Gross national income is $620 per person, with 19.5 percent living in poverty. Almost 60 percent of Vietnamese still rely on agriculture for work.

In 2003, there were 63 diagnosed cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), leading to 5 fatalities. Vietnam has also seen a number of infections from the H5N1 avian flu. Normally harmless to humans, within Vietnam it often turns into HPAI, or highly pathogenic avian influenza, and has killed 42 of the 93 known to be infected in 2005–06.

As Vietnam modernizes, non-communicable disorders are taking a larger role in public health. Tobacco and alcohol use are common, and are expected to lead to heightened rates of cardiovascular disease. Cancers are also on the rise, although it is often not diagnosed until a late stage. With increased urbanization, the country is already seeing an rise in traffic and industrial accidents, murders, suicides, accidental poisoning, drug overdoses, and mental health problems.

Child mortality has improved dramatically since 1990, with just 16 deaths per 1,000 in infants and 19 deaths per 1,000 in children aged 1 to 5. Three quarters of under-5 deaths are accidents in the home (primarily drowning) and traffic accidents. Immunization rates are high and 97 percent of children are enrolled in school. However, the economic changes sweeping the country are having an impact on children and families. More adolescents are using drugs, and 1 in 10 AIDS victims is under the age of 19.

Women in Vietnam suffer a higher incidence of ill-health during their lifetimes, but are less likely to seek medical attention and more likely to self-treat their illnesses. This seems to stem largely from cultural expectations about a woman's role in the family. The total fertility rate is low, 1.89 children per woman. Almost 80 percent of women use contraception. Eighty-five percent have skilled attendants during childbirth. Maternal mortality is 130 deaths per 100,000 live births.

Vietnam has a large medical infrastructure, with 730 general hospitals, 101 specialized hospitals, 946 primary care facilities, and 11,375 clinics. The pool of medical personnel includes 48,200 physicians and 50,000 nurses. The system is improving, but still needs to be extended into some of the more remote and rural parts of the country.

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