Hanoi (Vietnam)

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	Location: Thua Thien Hue, Vietnam
	Partner: Hanoi School of Public Health
	Partner involved: Hue College of Economics (when added), Universit� catholique de Louvain, University Hospital Heidelberg

Information:

Vietnam is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest and the South China Sea to the east. With a population of over 86 million, Vietnam is the 13th most populous country in the world.

Vietnam was under Chinese control for a thousand years before becoming a nation-state in the 10th century. Successive dynasties flourished along with geographic and political expansion deeper into Southeast Asia until it was colonized by the French in the mid-19th century. Efforts to resist the French eventually led to their expulsion from the country in the mid-20th century, leaving a nation divided politically into two countries. Bitter fighting between the two sides continued during the Vietnam War, ending with a communist victory in 1975.

In 1986, the country instituted economic and political reforms, and by 2000, it had established diplomatic relations with most nations. Its economic growth had been among the highest in the world in the past decade. These efforts culminated in Vietnam joining the World Trade Organization in 2007 and its successful bid to become a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council in 2008.

Thua Thien Hue, Vietnam:

Thua Thien Hue is a province in the north central coast of Vietnam, approximately in the center of the country. The capital city of the province, Hue, was once the royal capital of Vietnam. There is an extensive complex of imperial tombs and temples in Hue.

The province wass known as an area of heavy fighting during the Vietnam War. More U.S. soldiers died in this province than in any other province in Vietnam (2,893).

This province and neighbouring Quang Nam Province suffered greatly from flooding in November 1999.

Demography:

According to the census in 1999, Thua Thien Hue province has population of 1,044,875 people, of which people of labor age was 559,130 people (accounting for 53.51% of total population).

Geography:

Thua Thien Hue is one of the four provinces in the economic main point area of the Central. It is located 688 km away from Hanoi. Thua Thien Hue has its borders with Quang Tri province in the north, Da Nang City in the south, People's Republic of Laos in the west and East Sea in the east. Its natural area is 5,054 km�, its population in 2003 was 1,105,500 people. Thua Thien Hue has eight districts. Hue city has 150 communes, precincts and towns.

Thua Thien Hue province lies in the important transportation axis from the north to the south, the east-west axis connect Thailand-Laos-Vietnam through the highway no. 9. Thua Thien Hue has 120 km long of coastal line. It has the Thuan An port and the Chan May gulf, with 18-20 meters in depth. The Phu Bai avian port lies on highway no. 1A and the trans-Viet railroad runs through the province. It also has an 81 km border with Laos. Its river system includes main rivers like Huong River, Bo River, O Lau River and Truoi River. Thua Thien Hue province lies in a narrow strip of land with the length of 127 km and the average width of 60 km. It has all kinds of topography such as forest and mountain, hills and mounds, coastal plain, lagoon and sea. Its topography lowers gradually from West to East, complicated and strongly partitioned. The west part of the province is mainly mountains, hills followed by valleys of Huong River, Bo River and Truoi River, creating low geographical location, small and narrow coastal plain and lagoon area with area of 22,000 ha (accounted for 0.1 percent of the natural area). This lagoon is the biggest in Southeast Asia, with rich varieties of animals and plants. Its plain and mid-land areas are about 129,620 ha, accounted for 25.6 percent of natural area.

This geographical location has created favorable conditions for the province to develop commodity production, and enlarge social-economic exchange with other provinces nationally and internationally.

Economy:

In 2002, the average gross domestic product growth of Thua Thien Hue was 6.3%. Its annual per income capital is 305 USD.

Social and Economic aspects in 2002

Average annual GDP growth	6.3%
Average annual income per capital	305 USD

Summary of occupational structure

Industrial – basic construction	34.4%
Agriculture - forestry	22.5%
Commercial - services	43.1%

Health:

The total provincial pharmaceutical staff was 32 and the total number of medical doctors and nurses were 463 to service a population of 1.5 million people. On average, there are 44 medical doctors/nurses per 10 thousand people.

Each commune has a heath care center. In each district there is a district general hospital, a Center for disease prevention and a health service.

Education:

The province has made education compulsory for everyone in the 9 districts at the level of primary school since 2002. Provincial literate proportion was 98.6 percent. During school year 2001-2002, the proportion of secondary school was 132,120/256,813. The total number of teachers was 4,550.

Religion:

Buddhism is the dominant religion in Hue. In fact, Hue is an important center of Buddhism in Vietnam. In Hue, there still exists pagodas constructed more than 300 years ago and over a hundred temples and pagodas built in the early century.

Language:

Vietnamese is the national language.

Etnicity:

The province has 35 ethnic groups, of which Kinh people accounts for 96.29 percent of total population. Other minority groups such as Ta Oi accounts for 2.34 percent ; Co Tu accounts for 1.17 percent ; Bru-Van Kieu is 0.075 percent ; Hoa is 0.037 percent ; Tay is 0.017 percent ; Ngai is 0.009 percent and Muong is 0.008 percent.

The majority of the minority populations in Thua Thien Hue province do not follow any religion. The majority of Kinh people living in mountainous communes of A Luoi and Nam �ong follow Christianism and Buddhism, with 14,607 people over 3,168 households. Buddhist followers comprise 9,179 people or 1,952 households; Christian followers account for 5,366 people or 1,216 households; and Protestant followers are 62 people or 13 households.

Disaster experience:

Almost every area in Thua Thien Hue province experiences flooding. However, in some years, floods cause considerable loss and damage in terms of human lives and the economy. The number of floods is increasing in recent years. Moreover, the number of storms hitting Hue (and Vietnam) each year is growing. For example, in 1891-2000, 4.74 storms hit Vietnam and 0.79 hit Hue, on annual average; in 1945-2002, the number of storms hitting Vietnam and Hue was 6.1 and 0.87 on average, respectively.

Typhoon Xangsane (named as storm No 6 in Vietnam) battered central provinces including Thua Thien Hue, Da Nang, Quang Nam and Quang Binh, with heavy downpours, widespread flooding and damaging winds when it made landfall on October 1, 2006. According to reports by the CCFSC in 2006, the typhoon and its accompanying flood caused death to four people and injury to 18 in Thua Thien Hue province. It also destroyed 1,185 houses, damaged 30,743 houses and flooded 17,541 houses. Some 429 schools and 363 ha of rice fields were submerged in flood waters. Total economic loss incurred by this typhoon in the province was 2,910 billion dong (approximately 182 million USD). This amount is equivalent to 0.3% of the country�s GDP that year (GDP 2006: 973,791 billion VND).

From mid-October 2007 to mid-November 2007, torrential rain and whirlwind hit central provinces from Nghe An to Gia Lai, causing huge damages and loss to affected areas. During this period, there were four subsequent floods that attacked these provinces. Thua Thien-Hue was one of the worst hit with 22 deaths, one missing and 35 injured. The total area of rice fields submerged by the floods was 1459 ha. The number of damaged health facilities was 36. Total economic loss was estimated at more than 700 billion dong (about 44 million USD). This number is equivalent to 0.06% of country�s GDP that year (GDP 2007: 1,143,442 billion VND).

Reference:

- http://www.thoitietnguyhiem.net
- http://www.hcmussh.edu.vn/USSH/ImportFile/Magazine/Journal141006114021.doc, 10 Feb 2008
- http://vietbao.vn/Xa-hoi/Mien-Trung-oan-minh-vi-lu/10888875/157/, 26 November 2004
- http://vietnamnet.vn/xahoi/doisong/2004/11/350668/
- http://www.gso.gov.vn/default.aspx?tabid=413&thangtk=12/2004
- http://www.gso.gov.vn/default.aspx?tabid=413&thangtk=12/2007
- www.ccfsc.gov.vn, 22 January 2008
- http://www.gso.gov.vn/default.aspx?tabid=413&thangtk=12/2006
- National report on disaster reduction in Vietnam (For the World Conference on Disaster Reduction, Kobe-Hyogo, Japan, 18-22 January 2005), Hanoi, September 2004
- Situation report No 282/BC/PCLBTW, 4 October 2006
- Situation report No 282/BC/PCLBTW, 8 and 15 November 2007

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