International Observer

Editor’s note: This paper by Drs. Trinh, Dibley, and Byles shows with clarity the benefit of antenatal care and improved outcomes in maternal and infant morbidity and mortality. The data set used, which goes up to 1999, also suggests an improving trend in infant mortality as the economy grows and the GDP increases. These rates of improvement are at a rate of about 7% annually. In fact, infant mortality rates have changed dramatically in the last two decades in Vietnam. UNICEF data (May 2006) shows a pattern of 70/1000 in 1960, 55/1000 in 1970, 44/1000 in 1980, 38/1000 in 1990, 23/1000 in 2000 and 17/1000 in 2004.¹ This number is similar to Thailand at 18/1000 and Malaysia at 10/1000 for 2004.

Actually, the numbers for Vietnam are far better than many of its neighbors’, two of the most extreme cases being Lao People’s Democratic Republic with an infant mortality rate of 65/1000 and Cambodia at 97/1000.

According to UNESCAP (2005), about 85% of births are assisted by trained professionals in Vietnam; the numbers are higher for many of the neighboring countries.²

For this study, the majority of the individuals are rural farm people with very limited education, six years on average. In addition to making the antenatal care services available to rural women, there needs to be a plan to improve rural education, especially for young women.

This is one of the first studies addressing this issue in Vietnam; in time, with the expansion of the economy, the numbers should improve. The dramatic positive change in infant mortality rates should be an indicator for overall improvement associated with reductions in pregnancy adverse outcomes.

A follow-up to this study would be strongly recommended by the Australian research team.