Vietnam Needs to Tackle Malnutrition, Trafficking, HIV: UNICEF

UNICEF's annual flagship publication, "The State of the World's Children 2003," reported that sexual exploitation, malnutrition, inadequate sanitation and HIV transmission are just some of the problems facing children in Vietnam.

"Vietnam has made tremendous progress over the past decades in improving the well-being of its children," said UNICEF Regional Director for East Asia and the Pacific Mehr Khan. "However, several major challenges still remain." Khan said the government needed to tackle high malnutrition rates that result in one-third of all Vietnamese children being below the weight and height they should be. In addition, two out of three minors in rural areas do not have access to adequate sanitation facilities, she said, while one-quarter of all children who enroll in school leave before completing fifth grade.

UNICEF officials stressed that HIV/AIDS education among Vietnam's youth needs to be strengthened to contain the pandemic, which has already infected at least 56,000 across the country. "In Vietnam, young people constitute a third of the Vietnamese population; however, only 60 percent know that consistent condom use can protect them from HIV/AIDS infection," Khan said. Official figures show that condom sales rose from 3.5 million in 1991 to 92 million in 2000, but aid workers say that remains very little in a country with 80 million people.

International health experts have long criticized Hanoi for focusing on HIV/AIDS as a "social evils" problem -- affecting drug addicts and prostitutes -- rather than raising awareness about the virus among the wider population.

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