Willingness to Pay for the Preservation of Lo Go - Xa Mat National Park in Vietnam

Lo Go - Xa Mat National Park has great value in terms of biodiversity but preserving the park is a great challenge for the Vietnamese government. This study estimated the willingness to pay of households to preserve Lo Go - Xa Mat National Park, using the contingent valuation method. We employed the single-bounded dichotomous choice question format to estimate how much households in Ho Chi Minh City were willing to contribute towards a preservation plan for the park. This plan comprised twelve preservation activities and compensating the local communities for their foregone income. The study found that households in Ho Chi Minh City were willing to pay at least VND 6,209 per month for three years for the preservation of Lo Go - Xa Mat National Park. With protest votes included, factors strongly affecting households' willingness to pay were bid amount and the amount of their monthly electricity bill. The education level of the respondents and the number of working people in the household had significant but lesser impact on their willingness to pay. Without protest votes, the bid amount, monthly electricity bill amount and education level of respondents significantly affected willingness to pay. We found that the annualized benefit value of the project was larger than its annualized cost. This indicated that the preservation plan was economically viable. This study does not provide the total value of Lo Go - Xa Mat National Park, but it shows the great value of the park in terms of local households' willingness to pay for its preservation and this is important information for policy-makers in deciding how to protect the park efficiently.willingness to pay, Vietnam

The psychological impact of the COVID-19 epidemic among healthcare workers at the grassroots level in Vietnam

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the mental health of healthcare workers (HCWs). Therefore, an immediate priority is to monitor rates of mental health issues to understand related factors and inform interventions. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychological and mental health impact of COVID-19 and some related factors among HCWs at the grassroots level in Vietnam. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 675 HCWs working at health facilities through questionnaires. The finding showed the rate of HCWs who were psychologically affected by the COVID-19 pandemic was 37.2%, of which 64.1% of HCWs were afraid to tell their families about the risk of exposure to COVID-19 at work. The 31.0% of HCWs had difficulty sleeping deeply/insomnia due to the COVID-19 epidemic. No statistically significant differences were found in the psychological impact of COVID-19 between HCW groups by age, gender, seniority, and professional qualifications. Some groups of HCWs were found to have poor psychological health. Our research suggests that during the COVID-19 pandemic, HCWs working in healthcare facilities experienced an increased psychological burden; psychological interventions for those at high risk and with common mental disorders should be included to reduce this burden and protect HCWs' mental health

Knowledge of tuberculosis among physicians working at community health stations in Vietnam

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a significant health problem worldwide, including in Vietnam, where around 174,000 newly diagnosed cases and 13,200 patients died in 2018. There are challenges in the diagnostic process, treatment, and follow-up. The physicians with knowledge of TB working at commune health stations play an essential role in this struggle. The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate knowledge of TB and related factors among physicians working at community health stations in the Northern provinces of Vietnam. A cross-sectional survey was implemented on 335 physicians working at community health stations in 5 Northern provinces in Vietnam from September 2019 to October 2020. The result showed that the TB knowledge of physicians was not good. There were some severe knowledge gaps concerning at-risk groups, the main symptoms of TB, sputum tests for both diagnosis and follow-up and management of attack therapy. The TB training participants had better TB knowledge than others (aOR=1.68; 95%CI: 1.047-2.712). This study underlines the importance of clinical experience and TB training to TB knowledge. We suggest that a TB training plan is required for physicians. Our survey results could inform the process of defining the physicians who work at community health stations' role in TB management in the future

Synthesis and photocatalytic property of Prussian blue/g-C3N4 composite applied to degradation of rhodamine B under visible light

In this work, the Prussian blue/g-C3N4 (PB/g-C3N4) composite was synthesized from Prussian blue and g-C3N4 via a simple method. The composite was characterized by using X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The material’s photocatalytic performance was studied via the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB). The results show that the composite degraded RhB more than pristine Prussian blue under visible light after 60 min. This material is promising for organic waste treatment

Stakeholders' perceptions of pig effluent management in Thai Binh Province

224pThis paper provides an analysis of the perception of local stakeholders (people, organizations, institutions) in relation to the issues of pig effluents management in Thai Binh, Vietnam, and identifies courses of action on the basis of these perceptions and an institutional analysis. Three main types of stakeholders concerned by pig waste management were identified: those affected by the situation, those directly influencing the situation, and those indirectly influencing the situation. The results of the institutional analysis conducted by the PACT (Pro-Active Conciliation Tool) method are also presented, highlighting the key stakeholders, the favoured points of access and areas of possible consensus to initiate a collective process of change aimed at responding to the identified issues. The interest, difficulties and limitations of the main identified courses of action area discussed. In addition, the principle of patrimonial analysis and the PACT method, and the notions and means of calculation in the PACT programme are also discussed

Pig performance increases with the addition of dl-methionine and l-lysine to ensiled cassava leaf protein diets

Two studies were conducted to determine the impact of supplementation of diets containing ensiled cassava leaves as the main protein source with synthetic amino acids, dl-methionine alone or with L-lysine. In study 1, a total of 40 pigs in five units, all cross-breds between Large White and Mong Cai, with an average initial body weight of 20.5 kg were randomly assigned to four treatments consisting of a basal diet containing 45% of dry matter (DM) from ensiled cassava leaves (ECL) and ensiled cassava root supplemented with 0%, 0.05%, 0.1% and 0.15% dl-methionine (as DM). Results showed a significantly improved performance and protein gain by extra methionine. This reduced the feed cost by 2.6%, 7.2% and 7.5%, respectively. In study 2, there were three units and in each unit eight cross-bred (Large White × Mong Cai) pigs with an initial body weight of 20.1 kg were randomly assigned to the four treatments. The four diets were as follows: a basal diet containing 15% ECL (as DM) supplemented with different amounts of amino acids l-lysine and dl-methionine to the control diet. The results showed that diets with 15% of DM as ECL with supplementation of 0.2% lysine +0.1% dl-methionine and 0.1% lysine +0.05% dl-methionine at the 20–50 kg and above 50 kg, respectively, resulted in the best performance, protein gain and lowest costs for cross-bred (Large White × Mong Cai) pigs. Ensiled cassava leaves can be used as a protein supplement for feeding pigs provided the diets contain additional amounts of synthetic lysine and methionine

Classification of pig farms regarding environmental risk and internal use of pig manure

224pThis paper presents the practices of Vietnamese farmers in handling animal excreta, i.e., pig manure, and highlights the difference of farms in terms of their operation relative to waste management and utilization. The environmental risks associated with these practices, and the attempt to quantify the difference of pork production systems, are also explored. Finally, a typology constructed based on the difference of practices and the quantification of risks is also given