When I can, I like to spend some time reading and surfing around online to see what’s going on in Viet Nam. Here are some news stories that I found interesting this week:

People’s Daily Online reports that over seventy five percent of fatalities among Vietnamese children are due to injuries (traffic accidents, burns and drowning.) The article says that the country is taking it upon themselves to try and lower these numbers, but in all of their good ideas there is no specific mention of traffic safety education or helmet laws. They’re proposing to improve trauma care and create a “nationwide injury surveillance system”, whatever that means, but don’t seem to be paying much attention to addressing the traffic safety issues where they start.

Christie Aschwanden wrote a great piece about Viet Nam’s efforts to heal and repair environmental damage that occurred during the American-Vietnamese war. Defoliants such as Agent Orange caused a massive amount of damage and the Vietnamese people are still feeling the effects today (among residents as well as in the land.) Dioxin contaminated land is still prevalent in areas that were heavily spraye, yet animals still graze there, vegetables and grains are grown and people live (and suffer from health problems) in the area. This article explains what is being done to keep both people and the environment safe.

Viet Nam and the United States have entered into a civilian agreement to exchange information about nuclear science. The two countries will share nuclear safety practices, including how to dispose of radioactive material. While all this is good and interesting, what jumped out at me from this article were the following quotes:

The United States has been courting closer relations with Vietnam in hopes of nudging Hanoi into joining the Bush administration's war on terrorism.

In December, Washington made Vietnam eligible to receive non lethal military equipment for humanitarian disaster relief and search and rescue systems.

Hmmm….so is the US government courting Viet Nam with gifts and agreements in an effort to get their alliance in Bush’s war?

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