Our study was carried out on children who lived in the main streets and children who lived at Vanphuc commune, Thanhtri district, Hanoi that is far from the main roads and streets. Results have shown that air lead, precipitated dust and floor dust were statistical significant higher than control and exceeded many times to allowed standards. The lead level in drinking water and food did not play a significant role in differentiation between lead level in the bodies of children. The hair lead level in children who lived in the main streets was significant higher than this in control.
Lead ; Lead Poisoning ; child

A cross with comparison study was conducted at the end of 1999 at 2 kindergartens of Trang An and Trung Tu, Dong Da district, Ha Noi. The study group consisted of 5 year old children who lived near the main roads, and the control group consisted of 5 year old children who lived far from roads > 100m. The total was 87 children (38 females, 49 males). 47 children in Trung Tu kindergarten and 47 children in Trang An kindergarten. Results: the level of lead in house dust of control group was 181.08 g/g, compared with the level was 164.57 g/g in study group. The difference was not statistical. In the study group, lead content in the hair of children was 8.47 g/g , while in the control group it was 6.14 g/g, the difference was significant and statistical (p<0.05).
Environmental Pollution ; Lead ; Environment ; Child

Study on Van Chang hamlet, Nam Giang commune, Nam Truc district, Nam Dinh province was conducted at the end of 2003. The results showed that the employees of Van Chang hamlet and the leader, board committees of Nam Giang commune had good knowledge about the impact of mechanical processing activities on the living environment also the polluted level in hamlet. All leaders and people hoped their environment will be improved. They wished to get the support from the local authorities and professional bodies for the overall solutions and they were also ready to participate in the improving environment.
Environmental Pollution ; Professional Practice ; Environment

Background: Hypertension is an important risk factor that increases the cardiovascular disease-related morbidity and mortality, especially in elderly people. Objectives: The study aims to identify the hypertension rate among elderly residents of Can Tho city and some demographic, economic and social factors that were associated with hypertension in view of hypertension is changing with social and economic development. Subjects and method: The cross-sectional study involved 594 elderly people who were living in Can Tho city. Blood pressure was measured by the Korrotkoff method. The demographic, economic and social information was collected using questionnaire-based direct interviews. Results: The hypertension rate was quite high in the elderly group (51.9%). According to the WHO\u2019s ISH criteria, stage III occupied nearly 10%, stage II was approximately 15% and nearly one third of them in stage I. Age and living location were found to have significant impact to blood pressure status. Compared to the age group of 60 to 69, the elderly people in the age group of 70 to 79 were more likely to have hypertension by one and half times. And the risk was more than twice as high in the age group of 80 and above. These relationships were significant to p<0.05. The elderly people who were living in rural areas had twice the chance of having hypertension than those living in urban areas (p<0.001). Conclusion: The hypertension rate was quite high in elderly people in Can Tho city, Viet Nam. Age and living place were factors related to hypertension status in the elderly.
Hypertension ; Elderly

Background: Limitation of daily activities is the obstacle that prevents the elderly from achieving their desires. Objective: Aim to discover the prevalence and risk factors of the limitation in daily activities in the elderly. Subject and methods: This cross - sectional study was conducted in 4 provinces: Thai Nguyen, Ha Tay, Hue and Can Tho during June to December 2006 among 2.644 people at the age of 60 and above. Results: The overall prevalence of limitation of the elderly is 5.6%, and 4.3% is totally dependent and 1.3% is partly dependent. This proportion increases with age. It happens more in urban areas as opposed to rural and mountainous areas. Those living with their spouse have lower proportion of limitations. Can Tho and Ha Tay has the higher proportion of limitation than Hue and Thai Nguyen. Factors related to these limitations are aging (OR = 1.08; 1.06-1.10), not working at the current time (OR = 0.11; 0.05-0.28), ethnicity (OR = 2.25; 1.45-3.49), lack of physical exercise (OR = 2.24, 1.75-3.85), brain damage (OR = 15.18; 9.47-24.35), dementia (OR = 2.39; 1.62-3.54) and loss of vision (OR =1.32; 1.05-1.65). Conclusion: The limitation in daily activities tremendously affects the quality of life for the elderly. Age, working status, race, physical activity, accident of cerebral vessels, dementia and vision loss are statistic significant related factors for the limitation in daily activities of the elderly
Elderly ; daily activities

Health financing has been considered as an important building block of a health system and has a key role in promoting universal health coverage in the Vietnam. This paper aims to describe the pattern of health expenditure, including total health expenditure and composition of health expenditure, over the last two decades in Vietnam. The paper mainly uses the data from Vietnam National Health Account and Vietnam Living Standards Survey. We also included data from other relevant published literature, reports and statistics about health care expenditure in Vietnam. The per capita health expenditure in Vietnam increased from US$ 14 in 1995 to US$ 86 in 2012. The total health expenditure as a share of GDP also rose from 5.2% in 1995 to 6.9% in 2012. Public health expenditure as percentage of government expenditure rose from 7.4% in 1995 to nearly 10% in 2012. The coverage of health insurance went up from 10% in 1995 to 68.5% in 2012. However, health financing in Vietnam was depending on private expenditures (57.4% in 2012). As a result, the proportion of households with catastrophic expenditure in 2012 was 4.2%. The rate of impoverishment in 2012 was 2.5%. To ensure equity and efficient goal of health system, policy actions for containing the health care out-of-pocket payments and their poverty impacts are urgently needed in Vietnam.
Developing Countries/*economics ; Financing, Government/economics/trends ; Health Expenditures/*statistics & numerical data/*trends ; *Healthcare Financing ; Insurance, Health/*economics/*trends ; Vietnam/epidemiology

BACKGROUND: In order to provide essential scientific evidence on the population's health status and social health determinants as well as the current capacity of the health care system in Vietnam to health policy makers and managers, Vietnam Ministry of Health, Hanoi University of Public Health, Hanoi Medical University, and Ho Chi Minh University of Medicine and Pharmacy collaborated with Seoul National University (Korea) and conducted a health system survey in the Quoc Oai district (of Hanoi capital) that represented northern rural Vietnam. METHODS: The study design was a cross-sectional study. The survey covered different topics (more than 200 questions) and was administered in three separate questionnaires: 1) Basic information of all household members; 2) Household characteristics; and 3) Individual characteristics. Socio-demographic characteristics among the households and individuals were collected from 2,400 households sampled by multi-stage cluster sampling method: more than 200 questions. RESULTS: The household size of Quoc Oai was larger than the national average and there was no significant difference in gender composition. In addition, the proportions of pre-elderly, age 55–64, and elderly group (65 years old and over) were higher than the national population statistics. In this context, demographic transition has begun in Quoc Oai. CONCLUSION: This study design description provides the basic information about a baseline survey of a future prospective cohort (as a part of a collaborative project on strengthening the health system in Vietnam) to the prospective data user of this survey.
Aged ; Cohort Studies ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Delivery of Health Care ; Family Characteristics ; Health Policy ; Humans ; Methods ; Pharmacy ; Population Characteristics ; Population Dynamics ; Prospective Studies ; Public Health ; Seoul ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Vietnam