Vietnam

Poverty in Vietnam is predominantly a rural phenomenon. Vietnam's poorest are typically engaged in agriculture, poorly educated and live in remote, inaccessible locations with few services. Ninety percent of the poor derive the majority of their income from agriculture and 45 percent of the rural population are poor. They are highly vulnerable to environmental and economic shocks.

Ethnic minorities are disproportionately at risk of poverty - they represent 14% of the population but account for 29% of poor people. In part because the regions in which they live feature the slowest economic growth, their proportion among Vietnam's poor is expected to rise to over one third by 2010.

Women in rural areas also suffer disproportionately. Employed mainly in agriculture, they earn less, work longer hours, suffer more health problems, have lower education levels and less access to decision-making authority than their male counterparts have.

Poverty incidence varies significantly between regions. The Northern Uplands, Central Highlands and North Central regions have the highest incidence and severity of poverty. However the densely populated Mekong Delta contains 21% of Vietnam's poor, second in number only to the Northern Uplands. Projections suggest this will rise to 27% by 2010.

There is no independent, privately-run media in Vietnam. Domestic newspapers and television and radio stations remain under strict government control, and direct criticism of the Communist Party is forbidden. The government attempts to control public access to the Internet and blocks websites considered objectionable or politically sensitive. In May 2005, the government blocked the Vietnamese-language website of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Several dissidents have been imprisoned for alleged “national security” crimes after using the Internet to disseminate views disliked by the government.

Especially after harsh government crackdowns against mass protests in the Central Highlands in 2001 and 2004, public demonstrations are extremely rare. Organizers of public gatherings are required to apply for and obtain government permission in advance.

Followers of religions not officially recognized by the government continue to be routinely persecuted. Security officials disperse their religious gatherings, confiscate religious literature, and summon religious leaders to police stations for interrogation. Recent international pressure, as well as Vietnam’s pending entrance into the WTO has persuaded the government to release a number of prisoners, and ban forced recantations of faith, and loosen some restrictions on Christian organizations. However, the government continues to require religious organizations to register with the government in order to be legal. Local authorities have used the new regulations as grounds to arrest minority Christians suspected of belonging to churches that operate independently. Among the persecuted are ethnic Hmong Christians in the northwest, Hre Christians in Quang Nai province, Montagnards of the Central Highlands, the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, and members of the Hoa Hao sect of Buddhism.

Hundreds or religious and political prisoners remain behind bars. Police officers routinely arrest and detain suspects without written warrants. Prison conditions are extremely harsh: solitary confinement of detainees in cramped, dark, unsanitary cells; lack of access to medical care; police beating, kicking, and using electric shock batons on detainees; allowing inmates or prison gangs to carry out beatings on fellow prisoners without impunity. Political trials are closed to the international press corps, the public, and often the families of the detainees themselves. Defendants do not have access to independent legal counsel.

Although the country is among the poorest in the world, its vital heath indicators are comparable to those of middle-income countries. For instance, life expectancy for Vietnamese women is 10 years longer than would be expected given the country’s level of development. That’s not to say, however, that there isn’t a situation of concern regarding health in Vietnam.

Of infectious, vector-borne and communicable diseases, ARI and parasitic diseases in children, Hepatitis B, food borne related problems, including the Avian flu, represent less than 25% of the causes of mortality.

New or re-emerging diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, dengue fever and Japanese encephalitis are increasing.

The official number of reported cases of HIV/AIDS in 2002 was 40,000, however it is estimated that at least 120,000 people in the country are infected with the virus.

Tuberculosis detection and treatment has exceeded targets for success for nearly a decade, yet there are no signs of a decline in the overall annual TB incidence rate. Studies suggest that incidence rates have been falling among older adults (especially women) but rising among younger adults (especially men).

During the Vietnam war, massive bombing raids and defoliation campaigns caused severe destruction of the natural foliage, especially in the Central Highlands in the south. In addition, dioxin, a toxic residue of the herbicide known as Agent Orange, had leached into water supplies. Over 50% of the nation's forests have been eliminated. UN sources estimate that Vietnam loses 160,000 to 200,000 hectares of forest land annually. The nation has 366 cu km of renewable water resources with 86% used for farming activity and 10% used for industrial purposes. As of 2000, only 72% of the rural population had access to safe drinking water. Salinization and alkalinization are a threat to the quality of the soil, as are excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers.

Environmental damage has also been caused by the slash-and-burn agriculture practiced by nomadic tribal peoples in the Central Highlands and in the mountainous regions in the north. The government is engaged in a program to introduce modern farming practices to these populations.

In the mid-1970s, literacy in the south was estimated at about 65%, while in the north a rate of 85% was claimed in 1975. By the year 2000, adult illiteracy rates for the reunified country were estimated at 6.7% (males, 4.3%; females, 9.0%). After 1975, the educational system in the south was restructured to conform to the Socialist guidelines that had been used in the DRV. The 12-year school cycle was reduced to 10 years, and the more than 20,000 teachers in the south were among those subjected to "reeducation." By 1976, some 1,400 tons of textbooks printed in the DRV had been shipped to the south, and the books used previously under the RVN were destroyed. In addition, more than 1,000 formerly private schools in the south were brought under state control. Today, education is free at all levels, and five years of primary education is compulsory. Public expenditure on education is an estimated 3% of GDP. Net primary school attendance is 96%.

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