ABSTRACT
This chapter-among the few in the world-examined how well the households were prepared to contain COVID-19 in Vietnam under the first national social distancing in late April 2020 by mapping their related indicators presenting living conditions. It used the provincial data from Vietnam's Population and Housing Census 2019. Following Jones et al. (2020)‘s approach, it constructed various readiness indicators for households in 63 provinces/cities in Vietnam in order to see how they were ready for the social distancing period. The results showed that Vietnam's social distancing in late April 2020 was successful because it was applicable and implementable along with readiness of all households with sufficient resources. At the provincial level, however, there were differences in readiness levels, in which some provinces were consistently lower than the other. As such, supplementing social assistance policies during the social distancing period was timely and appropriate. This chapter concluded that, given its position as a middle-income country with limited resources and a population of nearly 97 million, Vietnam has been among the few countries in the world to successfully contain COVID-19 in a short time. Early interventions and timely social assistance measures combined with households' readiness strongly determined Vietnam's success. © 2022 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
ABSTRACT
Using an online survey with about 650 persons living in urban areas in Vietnam and working in different job positions, this chapter aimed to explore how they perceived various measures in containing COVID-19 and how they complied with and evaluated different government policies in controlling the pandemic. In particular, we disaggregated data of the urban workers into gender (male vs. female), job positions (wageearners vs. other), social insurance participation (mandatory, voluntary, and non-participating), and self-rated health (good vs. bad). We found that the respondents highly appreciated the government with the provided information of COVID-19 and the implemented policies to contain the pandemic. People showed quite good compliance with the national social distancing policies since they went out of their homes mostly for essential work, while very rarely for other reasons or nonessential work. We could see various differences in perceptions and compliance levels of the respondents in terms of age, gender, residential area, and health status. Based on those findings along with the existing studies, we recommended that appropriate measures stabilising social and economic activities within the country should be continuously implemented so as to maintain or alternate jobs for people working in severely affected economic sectors. Also, providing accessible and affordable healthcare measures to all people, especially for poor and informal workers who are particularly risky to infectious diseases, should also be given great consideration. Sufficient goods and services for people to meet their basic needs during social distancing should be continuously maintained. © 2022 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.