English - CEDAW Southeast Asia

A Gendered and Rights-Based Review of Vietnamese Legal Documents through the Lens of CEDAW
TTG on Approving “National Strategy on Reproductive Health Care for the 2001-2010 Period
(Decision on Reproductive Health Care) - states as a goal: “to achieve by the year 2010 a
marked improvement in the reproductive health status and narrow the gap between the
regions and target groups by better meeting the changing reproductive health needs over the
life cycle, and to do so in ways that are sensitive to the diverse circumstances of local
communities, with particular attention to disadvantaged areas and target-groups”. It identifies
key solutions and policies: (a) strengthen information, education and communication; (b)
strengthen organization and human resource development for reproductive health-care
service delivery network; (c) refine policies and laws in support; (d) socialization; (e)
strengthen training of health personnel in reproductive health care, especially training for
grassroots personnel; (f) budgets for reproductive health care; and (g) leadership and
management.
Fourth, the National Strategy on Nutrition for the Period 2001-2010 (National Strategy
on Nutrition)– pursuant to the Decision No. 21/2001/QD-TTG of February 22, 2001 Approving
the National Strategy on Nutrition for the Period 2001-2010 - includes among its targets the
reduction of malnutrition rate of mothers and children.
Fifth, the Government’s Programme of Action for the Implementation of the Political
Bureau’s Resolution No. 46-NQ/TW (Government’s Programme of Action) – pursuant to the
Decision No. 243/2005/QD-TTG of October 5, 2005 Promulgating the Government’s
Programme of Action for the Implementation of the Political Bureau’s Resolution No. 46-
NQ/TW of February 23, 2005 on Protection of, Care for and Improvement of the People’s
Health in the New Situation - has specific general health care targets by 2010: (a) two
pharmacists of university degree for every 10,000 people; (b) 60 percent of curative medicines
domestically manufactured; and (c) common medical equipment and instruments domestically
manufactured and satisfying 60 percent of demand.
The Government’s Programme of Action also lists tasks to be accomplished: (a)
renewing Viet Nam’s health-care system along the direction of equality, efficiency and
development; (b) improving people’s health; and (c) developing human resources. In relation
to task (a), the Government’s Programme of Action tasks the building and developing Viet
Nam’s health-care system along the direction of intensifying health socialization. The State
uniformly manages both public and private medical establishments in terms of professional
medical techniques throughout the country from the central level to the grassroots level. It
must create conditions to promote the development of private medical establishments.
However, the public sector must still be fully capable of satisfying the people’s basic healthcare
needs. The public sector must continuously assure the equality and efficiency of medical
examination and treatment, functional rehabilitation, disease prevention and improvement of
the people’s health, and it must ensure development of health consultation centres, the inhouse
doctors model (in big cities first), and private convalescence homes, attaching
importance to the health care of the aged and the disabled. Other tasks specified are to: (i)
develop and perfect the network of preventive medicine, in particular to upgrade 100 percent
of testing laboratories of provincial preventive medical centres; (ii) set up HIV/AIDS prevention
combat and control centres in provinces and centrally run cities; (iii) raise the medical
examination and treatment quality, establish new leading specialized hospitals for infectious
diseases, dermatology, geriatrics and cardiovascular diseases and (iv) develop grass-roots
257
Health (Article 12 of CEDAW)