Building sustainability through water company and community linkages

The Three Delta Towns Water Supply and Sanitation Project is a joint venture between the governments of Vietnam and Australia to improve the welfare and living conditions for residents in the Mekong Delta towns of Bac Lieu, Ha Tien and Sa Dec. The project’s major focus is the development of urban environmental infrastructure, and also includes significant components of institutional strengthening and community development. A key implementation strategy for building the long term sustainability of the new infrastructure is to promote and strengthen linkages between the water and sanitation companies responsible for the infrastructure, and the communities they serve. Major challenges have been a lack of understanding by the companies as to the value of the community programs, and a significant lack of capacity at the town and community levels for initiating the various community programs. Now 2½ years into this 6 year project, the strategy is beginning to show results

Experiences from a rural water supply and sanitation programme, Vietnam

Experiences from a rural water supply and sanitation programme, Vietna

The clinical features of osteogenesis imperfecta in Vietnam

Purpose Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) has not been studied in a Vietnamese population before. The aim of this study was to systematically collect epidemiological information, investigate clinical features and create a clinical database of OI patients in Vietnam for future research and treatment strategy development. Method Participants underwent clinical and physical examinations; also medical records were reviewed. Genealogical information was collected and family members’ phenotypical manifestations recorded. Cases were classified according to the Sillence classification. Results In total, 146 OI patients from 120 families were studied: 46 with OI Type I, 46 with Type III and 54 with Type IV. Almost patients had skeletal deformations. One hundred and forty-two had a history of fractures, 117 blue sclera, 89 dentinogenesis imperfecta and 26 hearing loss. The total number of fractures was 1,932. Thirty-four patients had intra-uterine fractures and nine had perinatal fractures. Surgery was performed 163 times in 58 patients; 100 osteosyntheses and 63 osteotomies. Bisphosphonate treatment was used in 37 patients. The number of affected individuals and predominance of severe forms of OI indicate that the disease is under diagnosed in Vietnam, especially in cases without a family history or with mild form of OI. Deformities appeared in all patients with different severity and localisation, affecting mostly the lower limbs. OI medical and surgical treatment rates are low and in most cases surgery was performed due to fractures. Conclusions Compared to previous studies, our results indicate a lower OI prevalence and greater severity of symptoms in the Vietnamese population when compared with other areas. Further investigation, improved diagnosis and treatment are needed to increase the patients’ quality of life