Improving maternity health and children in Viet Nam

Dien Bien is home to 21 ethnic minorities in the Northwest of Vietnam with more than 491,000 inhabitants. Child mortality rate among ethnic minorities is four times higher than the rate of Kinh Hoa. Maternal mortality rate in mountainous area is three times higher than the rate of delta areas.

The reason for this mortality rate is because only a small percentage of pregnant women came to healthcare facilities to give birth, so there are concerns over hygiene and sanitation matters. With the support of the development partners Johnson&Johnson, UNICEF has helped saving the lives of millions of Vietnamese women and children.

In this five year partnership, Johnson&Johnson, UNICEF and Vietnam’s Health Ministry will help promote the capacity of more than 3,000 health workers and ethnic minority midwives in four provinces of Lao Cai, Dien Bien, Gia Lai and Kon Tum to master the practices in providing cares for mothers and newborn babies.

Tackling malnutrition and stunting in Viet Nam

Song A Chia was born in Viet Nam's northwest mountainous province of Dien Bien. Like nearly a third of the children in this very poor province, Chia was severely malnourished, weighing less than 5kg by the time he was eight months old.

"When Chia was born, his cleft palate meant he had trouble latching on to the breast. His mother didn't have enough breast milk, explained his father, Son A Phinh." A community health care worker came to check on him and told us he was not gaining enough weight."

Son A Phinh is holding his son Song A Chia, eight months old baby, born cleft palate, malnourished and weighing less than 5kg. They are queuing for their turn during a regular health check in the Commun Health Centre of Viet Nam's northwest mountainous province of Dien Bien. Photo: UNICEF Viet Nam\2014\Truong Viet Hung

UNICEF joint mission reaches out to Dien Bien’s ethnic minority children

Dien Bien is the second poorest province in the country with child poverty rates at 64 percent, twice as high as the national average. Since 2012, UNICEF has focused its activities in Dien Bien to address high rates of maternal and infant mortality, malnutrition and stunting and poor access to education, water and sanitation. With support from the Embassy of Luxembourg for 2012-2016, UNICEF is implementing core health, education, sanitation and protection services that reach out to vulnerable ethnic minority children to improve their overall welfare. This week, UNICEF Representative Mr Youssouf Abdel Jelil, Vice Minister of Health Dr Nguyen Viet Tien and Ms Aurelie Klein from the Luxembourg Embassy in Viet Nam visited remote communes in Dien Bien province to monitor progress of UNICEF-led activities.

Semi-boarding schools in the remote Vietnamese province of Dien Bien are at the heart of a UNICEF-supported primary education policy for ethnic minority children.

A healthy start in Viet Nam

Ten-year-old Xi, a member of the Vietnamese Mong ethnic minority, wants to be a police officer when she grows up. “I’d like to protect the ethnic minorities, and to be able to spot the drug dealers and stop them,” she says.

Such confidence and social responsibility in someone so young is startling, especially bearing in mind that her home is in one of the most disadvantaged and remote parts of Viet Nam, where making ends meet is the main priority. Her mature attitude also represents an encouraging victory for UNICEF’s new country programme geared towards supporting ethnic minority children as well as disabled and other disadvantaged young people.

Students at Dien Bien’s semiboarding schools take health and hygiene lessons back to their homes.

One Family, One Toilet: Changing Old Habits to Save Lives in Northern Viet Nam

Quai Nua commune, Tuan Giao district – Until not so long ago, Lo, Thi Trang, did exactly like other children in her village when the call of nature came. 

“I used to poop in the river”, the 12 year-old giggles. “We had had no toilet and did not even know what it was. Really, I didn’t mind. We used to go down the hill to the river. Everyone in the village was doing the same: no shame! During the rainy season, it was a bit scary as it became slippery and we had to watch our steps.”

Trang is proud to introduce the new hygienic latrine that her parents built next to her house seven months ago, in Quai Nua commune, Tuan Giao district, Dien Bien province.

© UNICEF Viet Nam/2013/Matthew Dakin

Boarding schools provide education and security for vulnerable children in Viet Nam

A programme in Viet Nam supports ethnic minority children in their learning.

Giang Thi Me is visiting her family during weekend. Together with 90 other Mong students, she stays in school in weekdays as it’s too far for her to travel from home to school everyday.

DIEN BIEN PROVINCE, Viet Nam – At 6:30 a.m. in this remote, mountainous region of northern Viet Nam, the day has begun at the Tua Thang boarding school. Giang Thi Me, 7, is one of the more than 300 students at the school. She is a member of the Mong ethnic minority. Together with 90 other students, Me stays in the school in weekdays as it’s too far for her to travel from home to school everyday.

Ensuring care for vulnerable children

A-Dung and his grandmother in front of their thatched house.
© UNICEF Viet Nam\2012\Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong

Mua A-Dung lives in a small thatched house on a mountain in Hua Ngai Commune of Dien Bien, a northern mountainous province of Viet Nam. A-Dung’s father passed away when he was only four years old. Three years later, his mother remarried and moved out. He was left in the care of his grandmother, and stays together with his uncle’s family.

Lifting up voices from the ground to improve services for children

Giang Thi Cau’s family shared their feedback on a cash transfer scheme
© UNICEF Viet Nam/2012/Sandra Bisin

Eight year-old Giang Thi Cau is proud to perform a traditional dance for her peers at the end of the school day. She belongs to the Mong group, one of the main ethnic groups in Dien Bien province, in northern Viet Nam, which comprises a total of 19 ethnic groups, each with its own distinct language, culture and customs. Cau’s school is located in a scenic but remote valley of Dien Bien, surrounded by spectacular mountain peaks.

Field diaries: Hong Kong young envoys visit Viet Nam

A team of 10 Young Envoys visited the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum
UNICEF/Viet Nam/2012/Ly Phat Linh

A team of 25 Young Envoys from UNICEF Hong Kong visited Ha Noi and Dien Bien and Kon Tum provinces in Viet Nam from July 22-27 to better understand the challenges to children's well-being, and UNICEF’s response to these. The two provinces are among Viet Nam’s poorest, with a poverty rate of nearly 40 per cent in Dien Bien and 27 per cent in Kon Tum. A majority of Dien Bien’s 490,000 residents are ethnic minority people, as are more than half of Kon Tum’s 430,000 population. The UNICEF Hong Kong Young Envoy programme, launched in 1996, is a leadership training programme especially designed for secondary school students to become future pillars of society and advocates for child rights. Below are 17-year-old Julia Zschiesche and 14-year-old Felix Tam Chun-Yan’s “field diaries” from their time in Kon Tum Province.