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

As a result of social and economic developments, some groups of people in Viet Nam receive health care that differs greatly in quality and access from the care offered to others. Among those who receive the lowest-quality care and experience the poorest health outcomes are rural populations, the urban poor, ethnic minorities, women, older adults, children, and people with mental illness and physical disabilities, and others. To improve the quality of primary health care and health outcomes for all, especially vulnerable populations, Atlantic believes that Viet Nam requires stronger local capacities – including a larger pool of primary health care professionals, systems, and infrastructure. With these improvements, Viet Nam can address local health challenges, improve preventive care, and encourage healthy behaviours.

Atlantic supports efforts to extend high-quality health care to more regions through replicated models for training primary care professionals, improving clinical care, and improving systems and infrastructure for delivering care. For example, some organisations have the expertise to provide primary care and prevention, but need more physical infrastructure and staffing. Atlantic has invested substantially in local health care initiatives that can be used as models for the rest of the country and help forge a model for integrated community health care. The Programme works with government and international partners to ensure sustainability of these changes through increased investments in public health by government, foundations, and other organisations.

Population Health Programme Goals

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

  • Build capacity of a select number of institutions in public health, children’s health, health professional development, including public health training institutions, as well as community-based training centres in rural regions
  • Establish models of community-based comprehensive primary health care systems, including facilities, human resource capacity and health information systems, and work with government to take proven models to scale nationally
  • Work with provincial governments and local communities to significantly improve primary health care service delivery in regions with the most disadvantaged populations
  • Support the establishment of models of health information surveillance and management systems, establishment of centres of policy research and analysis, and development of evidence-based policies
  • Build capacity of groups that do not currently have the resources to advocate on their own behalf, such as the disabled, poor elderly, single mothers and others.

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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