HELPING HANDS HEALTH EDUCATION

HELPING HANDS - VIETNAM

Health in Vietnam

After national reunification (1975), Vietnamese public health faced countless difficulties: almost all hospitals and medical units had been destroyed, epidemics were rampant, as were social diseases and drug addiction in South Vietnam, etc. Mobilizing the force of the people and the assistance of humanitarian organizations and of WHO, the Vietnamese government determined to construct one 50 to 100- bed health center in each district, one or more 300 to 500- bed hospitals in each province and one health station in each commune. This does not include the thousands of private surgeries all over the country. Medical and pharmaceutical colleges, training centers for medical workers have been consolidated and expanded.

In particular, therapy by traditional oriental medicine, acupuncture and acupressure, the practice of exercising to care for one's health, therapeutic exercises, etc., are being encouraged. The campaigns for family planning, against AIDS, the controls of drug addiction have been paid due attention by the State and society. Throughout the country, the Health Ministry is carrying out a campaign to use iodized salt, a vaccination program against six diseases and the supply of vitamin A to children.

In the face of economic difficulties, the Vietnamese Government has decided to increase the number of beneficiaries of free medical charges for poor households and those in mountainous areas, to enhance malaria control, to extend the aid to purchase medical insurance for poor families, etc. The State has attached great importance to primary health care for the community. However, hospital accommodations are inadequate throughout the country and advanced technology is lacking. There is often a shortage of basic medical supplies, including disposable needles and vaccines. Medical care is substandard outside major cities. Thus, Helping Hands aims at helping the people of this country by bringing medical help through the help of our western volunteers.

Role of Helping Hands Health Education

Helping Hands Health Education and Hau Giang provincial hospital at Vi Thanh have signed an agreement in June 2006. As per that agreement the hospital has provided a piece of land and a building for Helping Hands Health Education to run its clinic in Vietnam. Helping Hands Health Education is registered with the government of Vietnam as an International NGO. By doing this it is permitted to bring medical and educational work to this country. Because of our continuous presence and efforts in Vietnam, we are recruiting medical and non-medical volunteers to go to Vietnam to help the people of need.

Currently Helping Hands volunteers provide the services at the Vi Thanh Hospital. It organizes medical relief programs through local medical as well as medical and non-medical volunteers from the USA and other countries. Helping Hands supports health clinics and/or posts in the surrounding villages with medical equipments and medicines along with medical professionals. In the near future, Helping Hands in Vietnam will run its own permanent clinic and also organize village health camps.

Volunteering in Vietnam will give opportunity for medical students of any year to have a knowledge of eastern medical practices and learn about the developing country's medical system and prevalent diseases. There are plenty of opportunities for the volunteers as to see the places of Vietnam after the war and see from the inner heart to connect the sadness and happiness of the Vietnamese people.

We experienced that simply being with them will make them very happy and, especially, when we do something for them they embrace us with welcoming gesture. Their heart is totally open for us and it is time for to give them something special back in the form of medical and educational support. Moreover, they are indirectly supported economically in some way when we go to visit them.

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Welcome Aboard to Helping Hands and the world of service!