Background
Viet Nam is an ethnically diverse society made up of 54 different ethnic groups, many of which have their own distinct language and live in remote and economically disadvantaged parts of the country. The ethnic minority population totals approximately 11 million; 13 percent of the total population of 85.8 million. The official language of instruction at school is Vietnamese and all children are taught through it. This has created a “language barrier” for many ethnic minority children who have a limited understanding and proficiency in Vietnamese or in some cases do not understand the language at all.

It is estimated that there are over 1 million children with disabilities (CWD) in Viet Nam. Similar to the movement globally, Viet Nam is shifting towards a social model of disability to facilitate inclusion of this segment in to society. This model has its focus on required changes in society in terms of attitudes, social support, information and physical structures that will enable the potential of disabled people to contribute to society and add economic value.

UNICEF Viet Nam commenced a cross sectoral program for CWD, including Victims of Agent Orange, in 2008. This program builds on existing UNICEF-supported work and partnerships to strengthen policies, legislation and programs for CWD and their families. It includes both national and sub-national components. At the sub-national level, the project focuses on capacity development, advocacy, service delivery and research. Da Nang in central Viet Nam has been chosen as the first of a proposed three sites for this project.

Bringing Vietnam’s Laws into compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

UNICEF and the government of Viet Nam commissioned Eric Rosenthal to conduct the assessment and analysis for this report, along with other experts from Mental Disability Rights International. The main aim of this report is to assist the government of Viet Nam in bringing its laws and policies into conformity with the new United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), which Viet Nam signed on October 22, 2007. The key objectives of this consultancy were:

• Assessment and analysis of the compliance of Vietnamese legal normative documents related children with disabilities(CWD) with UNCRPD and international treaties, standards and norms related to disability (using the desk review of Vietnamese legal normative documents related to CWD carried out by national legal expert);
• Review the draft Law on PWD and provision of comments and recommendations for its’ improvement/finalization;
• Development of recommendations to the government of Viet Nam for legislative and policy changes to bring about implementation of the new legal standards established in the CRPD; these suggestions are based upon our analysis of Vietnamese law and interviews with government officials, service providers, educators, disability activists; our analysis is also informed by site visits to service programs in Viet Nam for children and adults with disabilities.

Executive Summary
Child injuries are an important public health issue worldwide. The unprecedented economic and social development in Viet Nam over the past two decades has contributed to the emergence of injury as a major cause of morbidity and mortality, particularly in children.

Child Injury in Viet Nam
In 2007 alone, 7,894 children and adolescents aged 0-19 died of injury. Leading causes of child injury-related death in Viet Nam include drowning, road traffic injury, poisoning, falling, burns and animal bites. Major causes of non-fatal childhood injury are falls, traffic accidents, animal bites, injury by sharp objects and burns. Similar to other low- and middle-income countries, risk factors of child injury include age, gender, hazardous environments, low socioeconomic status, which is often associated with a lack of awareness about injury risks and the lack of supervision of children, as well as limited access to safety devices and appropriate healthcare, particularly emergency and pre-hospital care. International evidence shows that all types of injuries in children are preventable. Intervention approaches based on a combination of education and training, legislation and enforcement, environmental modifications and promotion of safer products and safety devices are likely to succeed in reducing the burden of injury in children.

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Background paper prepared for unicef consultancy on "Equity in access to quality healthcare for women and children" (april 8-10, ha long city, Viet Nam)

This situational analysis provides estimates of the degree of inequality in both maternal and child mortality and other high-level maternal and child health outcomes causally related to maternal and child mortality, including child morbidity, children's nutritional status and fertility. Estimates are also provided for several key intermediate health outcomes causally related to maternal and child mortality, including family planning, antenatal care, obstetric delivery care, immunization and curative care. Both early estimates for 1992/93 and recent estimates for 2006 of inequality are presented and compared. The main data sources used in the situational analysis include three household surveys, i.e., the 1992/93 Vietnam Living Standards Survey (VLSS), the 2006 MICS III and the 2006 Viet Nam Household Living Standards Survey (VHLSS), and provincelevel data from the MOH Health Information System (HIS) and other sources. In addition to inequality estimates, the situational analysis presents the results of regression analysis used to identify the underlying factors, such as age, sex, education, income, urbanization and ethnicity that are most closely associated with these outcomes. The observed inequalities are also decomposed in order to quantify the contributions made by the various underlying factors to the observed inequality.