Workshops and Programs in Vietnam

Many people in Vietnam are affected with HIV/AIDS. In the year 2002, there was a 3% HIV prevalence rate, and a greater than 1% prevalence rate in blood donors, patients with other STD, and women at antenatal clinics (a clinic for pregnant women). On July 8, 2004, there were approximately 200,000 adults and children in Vietnam living with HIV/AIDS. HIV is spreading in Vietnam very quickly. To stop the HIV rate from growing, workshops were built in Vietnam. The goal of workshops was to create a sustainable health care infrastructures (a foundation for an organization) in resource-poor settings. Many doctors from around the world have gathered together to start an organization that may also help decrease the growing numbers of HIV victims in Vietnam. A women named Dr. Charles was the founder of ICEHA. ICEHA stands for International Center for Equal Healthcare Access. The goal of ICEHA was to have doctors from around the world join together and help increase the health factors of South East Asia. to think outside their resource-rich experience and returning back home with new ways of dealing with diverse Dr.Charles had founded this ICEHA organization in 2001 because she understands that the lack of training for physicians and health care workers is a challenge to provide treatment in countries that are growing with HIV/AIDS victims, such as Vietnam. Another way of stopping the further spread of HIV is with the help of Vietnam's National AIDS Control Program. Vietnam has also joined together with the U.N. b Office of Drug Control and Crime Prevention to curb the spread of HIV.

Diseases and Treatments

The quality of public health care and the level of medical technology remained weak. Authorities were increasingly concerned about people in Vietnam with problems such as nutritional deficiancy, mental-health, and old-age illnesses. In the recent years, Cardiovascular diseases and cancers have increased. The most common diseases people in Vietnam are getting are: malaria, tuberculosis, trachoma, whooping cough, measles, poliomyelitis, chicken pox, typhoid fever, acute encephalitis, and acute meningitis. Tuberculosis is responsible for the death of about 1% of the national population in Vietnam, or nearly 600,000 persons annually, and it still remains a major problem. Gastroenteritis and childhood diseases such as diphtheria and whooping cough, have accounted for the extremely high 35% mortality rate among children, but the annual death rate for the population as a hole in 1983 was 8.4 per 1000 persons, a decline from 26 per 1000 persons in 1945.

The Institute of folk Medicine in Hanoi, a leading center devoted to the study of ancient theories and practices, utilized acupuncture and massage as an important part of its treatment programs. Vietnamese medicines have given rise to new therapy methods such as accupuncture and herbal medicine. Many plants are grown in Vietnam that are used for drugs that are eventually shipped to Europe and the U.S.A. Some of these traditional drugs were described as the best for cure or diseases like curing dysentery, arthritis, gastritis, stomach ulcers, heart diseases, influenza, blood clotting, and high blood pressure.

Improvements Over the Years

Over the years, childhood immunizations and other interventions for polio were removed in 2000. By 2005, maternal and neonatal tetanus was eliminated. Since 1990, the rate of catching the measles dropped by 95%. At the same time, micronutrient deficiencies disorders were in progress. Micronutrient deficiencies cause night-blindness, and mental retardation due to micronutrient deficiancies. In the last decade, Vietnam's HIV epidemic have been rapidly changing course. 25% of children less than 5 years old are underweight and 40% of pregnant women are anaemic(someone who is low in iron).