HEALTH IN TRANSITION IN LAO PDR

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HEALTH IN TRANSITION IN LAO PDR

• To be presented at the 10th MASEAN Conference
• 15-18 November 2001

Prepared by Dr Kongsap Akkhavong Deputy
Director National Institute of Public Health
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General information

• Land area 236,800 km2
• Total population 2000 5.2 million
• Density per/km2 21.0
• Male 2.57 million
• Female 2.63 million
• Women 15-49 years 23
• Under 20 years 54.2
• Young people 10-29 years 39.6

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Health Information

• Annual population growth rate 2.8
• Fertility rate/woman 4.9
• Crude birth rate/1000 pop 34.0
• Crude death rate/1000 pop 4.9
• MMR/100,000 live birth 530
• IMR/1000 live birth 82
• U5MR/1000 live birth 107
• Life expectancy at birth 59

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Leading causes of mortality 1999 (rate per
100,000 pop.)

• Malaria 13.7
• Pneumonia 4.6
• Diarrhea 2.7
• Meningitis 1.5
• Dengue hemorrhagic fever 0.5

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Hospitals and Beds

• 2 Central hospitals 600 beds
• and few specialized hospitals (TB, ophtalmology,
  rehabilitation, trad. med. with 20-100 beds each)
• 18 provincial hospitals (varied 45-250 beds)
• 142 district hospitals with 5-30 beds
• 565 health centers with 3 beds each.

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Health Personnel 2000

• Total 11,432 (6,572 female)
• Central level 1,892 (1,152 female)
• Provincial level 3,861 (2,179 female)
• District level 5,679 (3,241 female)
• Postgraduate 161
• High level 1,743
• Middle level 3,621
• Low level 5,656
• Non-level 235

Source MOH, 2000
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Health Expenditure
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Medical Education

• There are 3 levels of medical education
• 1- Low level Auxiliary nursing school (length of
  study1-2 years)
• 2- Middle level Health Technology College
  (length of study 3years)
• 3- High level Faculty of Medical Sciences
  (length of study 6 years)
• Post-graduated study 3 years training course in
  Pediatrics, Surgery, Anesthesiology, Public
  Health, Francophone Institute for Tropical
  Medicine
• (Internal Medicine and Ob-Gyn will begin soon).

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Medical Association

• 1998 MASEAN meeting in Penang, Malaysia.
• Request to set up the Lao Medical Association
  from the government
• 1999 Invite Expert from Vietnam to assist
  preparing and formulating the document for
  setting up the Lao Medical Association.
• 2000 Submit the Lao Medical Association document
  to the government for approval
• 2001 Consideration of the document from Ministry
  of Justice. Some articles are suggested to revise
  and adjust to the real situation of the country

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Research Ethics Development

• 2000 5 people participated in the International
  training course on Research ethics in Thammasat
  University, Thailand.
• 2000 Translation of the Operational Guideline
  for Ethics Committee that review Biomedical
  Research, WHO 2000 in Lao language.
• 2001 2 people joined in the same training course
• Aug. 2001 National workshop on research ethics
  to prepare for establishing the National Ethics
  Committee for Health Research in Lao PDR.
• Oct. 2001 2 people attended a training course
  and FERCAP meeting in Manila, Philippines.

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In conclusion
Facing to many problems and difficulty,
technically and financially, health personnel in
our country have to work seriously and
appropriately for giving better services and
promoting the quality of life of our people. I
believe that in collaboration with our colleague
of MASEAN, I am certainly confident that our
task will be accomplished in the future.
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Thankyou