Background: Viet Nam is located in the epidemiological region of Japanese Encephalitis (JE). JE vaccine manufactured in Viet Nam has been used in the national vaccination program since 2003, but there has been no scientific study on the effectiveness of this program in Ha Nam province. Objectives: To investigate the epidemiology of JE and effectiveness of vaccinations in Ha Nam province from 2001-2006. Subjects and method: All residents in Ha Nam province, with the key focus group being JE cases. The retrospective and prospective epidemiological descriptive method was used. Results: The records of 148 cases of JE were collected. Among them, 42.5% (63 cases) were confirmed as JE by MAC-ELISA. The incidence and mortality rate were 1.29/100,000 and 0.12/100,000, respectively. Confirmed JE cases were found annually in all districts of Ha Nam province. However, it has been in decline, especially since the vaccination program was implemented for 1-5 year old children. The disease occurred in the summer with the peak in May and June (80.9% of total cases). Most of the cases were children under 15 years old (98.4%). The highest incidence rate was 6.4/100,000; 5.5/100,000 and 5.3/100,000 in the children aged 5-9, 1-4 and under 1 year old, respectively. Conclusion: The vaccination program appeared effective in reducing the mortality and morbidity of JE among children in Ha Nam province.
Japanese Encephalitis ; epidemiology

Background: According to WHO, there are 5 million deaths from kinds of injury a year in the world, of which 875000 deaths occur in children under 18 years old. Injury leads to 40000 deaths which account for 10.7% deaths due to all other causes a year in VietNam. Objective: To show conclusions of the situation of child injury, recommendations for prevention of child injury and methods in order to enhance emergency activity in Vietnam. Subjects and method: The authors collected information about all patients who had emergencies due to injury at Viet Duc hospital, from March 26th 2006 to Octorber 26th 2006. However, supervised cases were the patients under 18 years old who were examined and treated at the Department of Emergency. Results: During the period of study, 2536 patients under 18 years old were examined for injury, of which death and coming back home for death were 83 cases (3.27%). 974 children had emergency resulted from injury: male was more than female: 697 verus 227. The leading causes of child injury were fall and traffic accident, respetively 34% and 60%. The most common traumas were traumatic brain injury (45%), limbs injury (41%). Although most of cases had first aid at the hospitals in district or province level, the rate of non-first aid cases was high (34%). Conclusion: Child injury is a leading cause of child death in hospitals. Methods for prevention of child injury should focus on educating and propagandizing to minimize injuries caused by traffic accident and fall.
Wounds and Injuries ; Child