Infant mortality halved

21-9

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When local health groups were engaged in rural Vietnam infant mortality fell by 50 per cent. This is shown by research at the Department of Women's and Children's Health. Ngyen Thu Nga wrote her thesis on the project.


Local groups were started that collaborated on infant care. It was found that survival increased by 50 per cent. Why does it work so well?

“A very good model is used in the province where I work, as it is based in the local community and not at the hospital. In a randomised study, we showed that it was an effective model that does not cost so much, as we involve political groups, healthcare workers and women's organizations that are already active in the area. We started maternity and neonatal groups working together towards the same goal.”

Will there be a continuation of the project?

“We hope that we can spread the model to other provinces. Vietnam is a large country with 90 million inhabitants and there are vast differences between different parts of the country. Even in the province where I work there are large differences between the different districts. First and foremost we concentrate on districts with the poorest communities and where infant mortality is greatest.”

Annica Hulth

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