The situation of health education at district level in 4 provinces in Viet Nam during 2006

ABSTRACT

Background: The health education system has been established in Viet Nam since the early part of the 21st century from district to central level. In 2002, Health education has been considered as a first standard out of 10 national health standards for communal level. But there are few studies assessed the situation of health education activities at district level. Objectives: To discover the situation and identify possibilities to improve the health education activities at district level. Subjects and method: The cross-sectional study was conducted in 4 provinces Yen Bai, Thai Nguyen, Ha Tay and Thai Binh. The questionnaires were used for interviewing health workers in preventive health centers at district and provincial levels of these provinces. Results. The health education activities have been carried out at district level with different methods, but 35.4% of respondents noted that these activities were not good enough. The significant number of health workers, who were responsible for health education at district level did not possess the proper knowledge and skills to meet the task requirements. The management of health education remained a limitation. 76.1% interviewed health workers said that the plans of health education activities have not been made properly, a lack of equipment and materials for these activities. Most of the respondents believed that the health education activities can be improved with better implementations.Conclusion: The health education management and activities at district level of the 4 investigated provinces has not achieved levels of expectation. The knowledge and skills of health workers had not met the task requirements. Therefore, it is important to strengthen both knowledge and skills for health workers to improve the health education activities at district level.