Healthcare use for diarrhoea and dysentery in actual and hypothetical cases, Nha Trang, Viet Nam.

To better understand healthcare use for diarrhoea and dysentery in Nha Trang, Viet Nam, qualitative interviews with community residents and dysentery case studies were conducted. Findings were supplemented by a quantitative survey which asked respondents which healthcare provider their household members would use for diarrhoea or dysentery. A clear pattern of healthcare-seeking behaviours among 433 respondents emerged. More than half of the respondents self-treated initially. Medication for initial treatment was purchased from a pharmacy or with medication stored at home. Traditional home treatments were also widely used. If no improvement occurred or the symptoms were perceived to be severe, individuals would visit a healthcare facility. Private medical practitioners are playing a steadily increasing role in the Vietnamese healthcare system. Less than a quarter of diarrhoea patients initially used government healthcare providers at commune health centres, polyclinics, and hospitals, which are the only sources of data for routine public-health statistics. Given these healthcare-use patterns, reported rates could significantly underestimate the real disease burden of dysentery and diarrhoea.

Acceptability and accessibility of a Shigellosis vaccine in Nha Trang city of Viet Nam.

The acceptability and accessibility of a hypothetical Shigella vaccination campaign was explored. A household survey was conducted with 539 randomly-selected residents of six communes in Nha Trang city of Viet Nam. Four categories of acceptability, such as refusers, low acceptors, acceptors, and high acceptors, were established, Refusers were significantly more likely to be elderly women and were less likely to know the purpose of vaccinations. Low acceptors tended to be male, elderly, and live in urban areas. Low acceptors perceived the disease as less serious and themselves as less vulnerable than acceptors and high acceptors. In terms of accessing vaccination, the commune health centre workers and commune leaders were the preferred sources of information and commune health centres the preferred location for vaccination. Direct verbal information from healthcare providers and audio-visual media were preferred to written information. The respondents expressed a desire for knowledge about the side-effects and efficacy of the vaccine. These findings are significant for targeting specific messages about shigellosis and vaccination to different populations and maximizing informed participation in public-health campaigns.