In Vietnam, harm reduction programs to control HIV among people who inject drugs (PWID) were implemented approximately 10 years ago. Since then, the HIV prevalence has declined in this population, ...however, the impact of these programs on the rate of new HIV and Hepatitis C (HCV) infections remains unknown as high mortality can exceed the rate of new infections. We evaluated HIV and HCV incidences in a cohort of active PWID in HaiPhong in 2014, who were recruited from a community-based respondent driven sampling (RDS) survey and followed for 1 year. Only HIV-negative or HCV-negative participants not on medication assisted treatment (MAT) were eligible. HIV/HCV serology was tested at enrollment and at 32- and 64-week follow-up visits. Among 603 RDS participants, 250 were enrolled in the cohort, including 199 HIV seronegative and 99 HCV seronegative PWID. No HIV seroconversion was reported during the 206 person-years (PY) of follow-up (HIV incidence of 0/100PY, one-sided 97.5%CI:0-1.8/100 PY). Eighteen HCV seroconversions were reported for an incidence of 19.4/100 PY (95%CI;11.5-30.7). In multivariate analysis, "Injecting more than twice daily" was associated with HCV seroconversion with an adjusted odds ratio of 5.8 (95%CI;1.8-18.1). In Hai Phong, in a context that demonstrates the effectiveness of HIV control programs, the HCV incidence remains high. New strategies such as mass access to HCV treatment should be evaluated in order to tackle HCV transmission among PWID.
Although medicinal herbs contain many biologically active ingredients that can act as antibiotic agents, most of them are difficult to dissolve in lipids and absorb through biofilms in the ...gastrointestinal tract. Besides, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been widely used as a potential antibacterial agent, however, to achieve a bactericidal effect, high concentrations are required. In this work, AgNPs were combined into plant-based antibiotic nanoemulsions using biocompatible alginate/carboxyl methylcellulose scaffolds. The silver nanoparticles were prepared by a green method with an aqueous extract of Allium sativum or Phyllanthus urinaria extract. The botanical antibiotic components in the alcoholic extract of these plants were encapsulated with emulsifier poloxamer 407 to reduce the particle size, and make the active ingredients both water-soluble and lipid-soluble. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis showed that the prepared nanosystems were spherical with a size of about 20 nm. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) confirmed the interaction of the extracts and the alginate/carboxyl methylcellulose carrier. In vitro drug release kinetics of allicin and phyllanthin from the nanosystems exhibited a retarded release under different biological pH conditions. The antimicrobial activity of the synthesized nanoformulations were tested against Escherichia coli. The results showed that the nanosystem based on Allium sativum possesses a significantly higher antimicrobial activity against the tested organisms. Therefore, the combination of AgNPs with active compounds from Allium sativum extract is a good candidate for in vivo infection treatment application.
Coffee is the most traded commodity after petroleum. The Vietnamese coffee bean industry has raised concerns lately over an inefficient coffee value chain; bets on coffee price uncertainty are ...increasing worldwide in the current. Accurate optimization of coffee bean prices helps manufacturers to control an unpredictable market and upgrade cooperativeness in sustainable agriculture. The authors proposed a forecasting method to deal with demand volatility and uncertainty in volumes and coffee bean prices. In this paper, we applied the forecasting nonlinear grey Bernoulli model (NGBM) (1,1). NGBM (1,1), which is based on the parameter optimization algorithm, can increase the precision of predictions. NGBM (1,1) was integrated with Fourier residual modification model to forecast coffee bean price, which was a crucial factor in the Vietnamese coffee bean supply chain. The price of coffee beans was calculated using a differential equation in an uncertain system, along with actual data collected over the past six years. The results of this study demonstrate that an integrated forecasting model is an effective forecasting method. This research can help companies to control risks that come with uncertain coffee prices and reduce risks in the sustainable agriculture supply chain.
A novel iron-modified biochar (FMBC) derived from rice straw was synthesized using FeCl3 modification for efficient As(V) removal from aqueous solution. FTIR and SEM-EDX analyses were carried out to ...determine the mechanism involved in the removal process and also demonstrated that Fe had loaded successfully on the surface of modified biochar. The iron-modified biochar showed higher arsenic removal ability than the raw biochar. The iron-modified biochar showed a maximum adsorption with an initial solution pH of 5.0. Moreover, for the tested biochar, the As(V) removal kinetics data were well fitted by the pseudo-second-order model. Furthermore, the As(V) removal data upon being well fitted by the Langmuir model showed the maximal removal capacity of 28.49 mg/g. The simple preparation process and high adsorption performance suggest that the iron-modified biochar derived from rice straw could be served as an effective, inexpensive, and environmentally sustainable adsorbent to replace typical granular activated carbon (AC) for As(III) removal from aqueous solution.
Introduction
The prevalence of mental health disorders among people who use drugs is high and well documented. This hard‐to‐reach population faces a very low awareness and access to mental health ...care, especially in developing countries. The objectives of this study were to design and assess a quick screening tool (QST) that community‐based organisations (CBO) could routinely apply to a Vietnamese population of people who inject drugs (PWID), in order to refer them appropriately to mental health specialists.
Methods
We devised a tool that included nine questions covering anxiety, depression, suicide risk and psychotic symptomatology. Its use required no specific background and 2 h training. Specificity and sensitivity of the QST were assessed in a population of 418 PWID recruited via respondent driven sampling, using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview questionnaire plus clinical evaluation as a reference standard. Acceptability was assessed using a self‐administered anonymous questionnaire submitted to all CBO members who used the QST.
Results
CBO members considered the QST easy to use, relevant and helpful to deal with mental health issues. Area under the curve for detection of any symptom using the QST was 0.770. The maximum sensitivity and specificity were reached with a cut‐off of 2 sensitivity was 71.1% (95% confidence interval 62.4, 78.8), specificity was 75.9% (70.5, 80.7).
Discussion and Conclusions
The QST appeared to be both efficient and well accepted. Given the burden of mental health problems among hard‐to‐reach PWID in developing countries, community‐based screenings such as this one could be a particularly appropriate response.
Methadone maintenance treatment, initially introduced in Vietnam for HIV harm reduction, has marked a significant switch in the country’s drug policy – from addiction as a moral issue to addiction as ...a brain disease. After the some initial outstanding achievements, the programme is facing a high dropout rate that threatens both goals of HIV prevention and drug treatment. This sociological study, as part of an HIV intervention research project, explores the challenges and opportunities that individuals who use drugs are faced with in relation to addiction treatment.
A qualitative study among drug users with and without methadone maintenance treatment experiences recruited by peer outreach workers. We conducted 58 in-depth interviews and 2 focus groups between 2016 and 2017.
The start of treatment brought about significant feelings of success as heroin use was no longer compulsive. However, being in treatment programmes is also challenging with respect to continuing the recovery process. Barriers to retention include a popular fear of methadone as another harmful drug, a feeling of dependence related to the current practices of methadone treatment programmes and a poor therapeutic relationship. In the face of such challenges, the two major motivations that keep patients in care come from the desire to completely break up with heroin and the pursuit of family happiness.
The current practices of methadone programmes pose challenges to patients’ recovery efforts from addiction and threaten treatment retention. Prompt interventions are needed to help Vietnam attain its objective of providing better care for larger vulnerable populations.
We examined gender differences among people who inject drug (PWID) in Hai Phong, Vietnam in term of blood-borne infections, risk behaviors, and access to care. Using respondent-driven-sampling ...surveys, we recruited 3146 PWID from 2016 to 2018. Inclusion criteria included a positive urine test for heroin and recent injection marks. There were 155 female PWID (4,9%), including 82 at RDS-2016, 32 at RDS-2017 and 38 at RDS-2018. The age mean was 36.3 ± 7.2 years. The majority of female PWID had less than high school education (90.9%) and were unemployed (51.3%). There was no difference in the proportion of HIV and HCV positive by gender. However, women had several significant differences in risk behaviors than men in multivariable logistic regression. Being a woman was independently associated with being unemployed, being a sex worker, having unstable housing, having uses drugs for less than 5 years, more use of methamphetamine, having a partner who ever injected drugs, and less access to methadone treatment. Interventions targeting female PWID are needed, possibly through community organizations and peer educators.
•We examine the relationship between cash flow and corporate investment under unexpected money (M2) growth in Vietnam.•Unexpected money growth resembling the assumption of tightening monetary policy ...in Vietnam reduces corporate investment.•Firms prioritize using cash flows to finance investment opportunities, which is stronger in firms with external financial constraints.•The presence of non-financial firms as large shareholders can mitigate the adverse impacts of monetary tightening on corporate investment in Vietnam.
This paper uses a sample of listed firms to raise questions as to how unexpected money growth affects firm-level investment in Vietnam, resembling tightening monetary policy impact. We find that most results that hold true in other countries also apply to Vietnamese firms during the years of our study. In particular, we find that higher cash flows are associated with higher investment when the assumption of tightening monetary policy is conducted, which is stronger in firms with external financial constraints. We also examine the impact of non-financial firm ownership and find that its presence reduces the investment impact of tightening monetary policy for affected firms. These results imply that the impacts of changes of the monetary stance on corporate investment seem to differ in a way that depends on cash flow and firm ownership characteristics.
After the emergence of COVID-19, a one-month strict lockdown was imposed in April 2020 in Vietnam, followed by lighter social distancing restrictions over the year. We investigated whether those ...measures affected people who inject drugs (PWID) in terms of risk behaviors for HIV and HCV and access to prevention and care in the city of Haiphong, a historic hotspot for HIV and drug use.
We carried out a ‘before-after’ study from 2019 to 2020 using respondent-driven sampling method to enroll PWID. They were interviewed on their socioeconomic situation, drug use and sexual behaviors, relations to care services and tested for drugs and methadone in the urine, for HIV, HCV, and HIV plasma viral load when HIV-positive. Changes following the restrictions were assessed by comparing ‘before’ to ‘after’ data.
780 PWID were enrolled. Mean age was 44 years; 94% were male. All were actively injecting heroin ‘before’, versus 56% ‘after’. Among those, frequency of consumption decreased from 24 to 17 days per month. No changes were observed in the frequency and practices of methamphetamine smoking. The proportion of PWID on MMT increased from 68.7% to 75.3%, and that of PWID engaging in risky behaviors related to drug injection decreased from 6.0% to 1.5%. No HIV seroconversions were observed; HCV incidence was 2.6/100 person-years (95% CI 0.7–6.7). 9% of PWID reported a monthly income of less than 130USD ‘before’ versus 53% ‘after’.
The case of Hai Phong shows that it is possible, during times of COVID-19 pandemic, to maintain access to harm reduction and care and to prevent HIV and HCV transmission among PWID in a resource-limited setting where severe social distancing restrictions are implemented. Further research is needed to assess the consequences of long-term economic difficulties and the impact of actual spread of SARS-Cov2 that has since emerged in Haiphong.
The paper analyzes the impact of institutions on the labor productivity of small and medium-sized private enterprises through the spillover effect from state-owned enterprises (SOEs). The authors ...used data samples from three datasets: (i) The Annual Enterprise Survey conducted by the General Statistics Office of Vietnam (GSO) from 2010 to 2018; (ii) Institutional data (PCI) published by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) from 2010 to 2018; (iii) GSO 2012 I-O balance sheet and a set of tabular data containing 666,221 observations at the enterprise and provincial levels in Vietnam from 2010 to 2018, including both listed and unlisted enterprises. The model's experimental result shows that institutional improvement boosts labor productivity of domestic private enterprises through a horizontal and forward spillover channel from SOEs. Through the backward spillover channel from SOEs, how institutional improvement affects the labor productivity depends on the degree of backward spillover channel from SOEs.
PDF
