TY - JOUR AU - Nguyen H. AU - Vu T. AU - Pham C. AU - Nguyen A. AU - Ivers R. AU - Stevenson Mark AU - Ali M. AU - Boufous S. AU - Nguyen D. AB -

As with other South Asian countries, injury is becoming a leading cause of death and morbidity among children in Vietnam. In response to the increasing burden of child injury, government and non-government agencies in Vietnam have combined efforts during the last decade to develop and implement various child injury prevention strategies and programmes. This article provides, through a review of relevant documents and interviews with major stakeholders, an overview of these efforts and highlights major challenges to child injury prevention in the country. The findings point to notable achievements in terms of increasing awareness of injury facing children at all levels in the community and developing a sound injury prevention policy framework in a relatively short period of time. However, much needs to be done to implement necessary environmental and legislative changes, strengthen child injury surveillance and injury prevention research; and to improve access to health services. The insight into the experience of Vietnam could benefit other low- and middle-income countries with a high burden of child injury.

AD - The George Institute for Global Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia. sboufous@george.org.au AN - 21843102 BT - International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion DP - NLM ET - 2011/08/17 J2 - LA - eng M1 - 2 N1 - Boufous, SoufianeAli, MariaNguyen, Ha TStevenson, MarkVu, Thien CNguyen, Duyen T YIvers, RebeccaPham, Cuong VNguyen, An T TResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tEnglandInt J Inj Contr Saf Promot. 2012;19(2):123-9. Epub 2011 Aug 16. N2 -

As with other South Asian countries, injury is becoming a leading cause of death and morbidity among children in Vietnam. In response to the increasing burden of child injury, government and non-government agencies in Vietnam have combined efforts during the last decade to develop and implement various child injury prevention strategies and programmes. This article provides, through a review of relevant documents and interviews with major stakeholders, an overview of these efforts and highlights major challenges to child injury prevention in the country. The findings point to notable achievements in terms of increasing awareness of injury facing children at all levels in the community and developing a sound injury prevention policy framework in a relatively short period of time. However, much needs to be done to implement necessary environmental and legislative changes, strengthen child injury surveillance and injury prevention research; and to improve access to health services. The insight into the experience of Vietnam could benefit other low- and middle-income countries with a high burden of child injury.

PY - 2012 SN - 1745-7319 (Electronic)1745-7300 (Linking) SP - 123 EP - 9 T2 - International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion TI - Child injury prevention in Vietnam: achievements and challenges VL - 19 ER -