1. HEALTH LITERACY SURVEY IN HAIPHONG CITY, VIETNAM
Research institution:
Hai Phong University of Medicine and Pharmacy
Authors: Pham Minh Khue, MD, PhD., Hoang Thi Giang, MD, MSc., Pham Van Thuc, PhD., MD., et al.

2. Contents
Introduction
Methods
Results and Discussion
Conclusion

3. Address: 72A Nguyen Binh Khiem Street, Hai Phong City, Viet Nam
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Website: ;

4. Literacy in Vietnam and neighbor countries (UNESCO, 2013)
Recent years, adult literacy rate in Vietnam has increased gradually (93,4% in 2011; target 94% in 2015)
In Malaysia: 93,1% in 2010; target 94,5% in 2015

5. Definition
Health literacy is linked to literacy and entails people’s knowledge, motivation and competences to access, understand, appraise, and apply health information in order to make judgments and take decisions in everyday life concerning healthcare, disease prevention and health promotion to maintain or improve quality of life during the life course (Sorensen et al. 2012).

6. Health Literacy in Vietnam
Several health studies focused on knowledge, attitude and practice or behavior of specific groups of people relate to specific diseases.
Lack of Health Literacy studies in Vietnam so far
Never teach “health literacy” in school/university

7. Objectives
We aim to estimate the health literacy of different subgroups of population in a coastal area of Vietnam.

8. Methods

9. Research site

10. Haiphong Site (3 wards/communes)

11. Methods - Design Study design Sampling Cross-sectional study
Required sample size = 1000
Base on the list of local population, the random sampling was applied

12. Methods – Validation of questionnaire
Bộ câu hỏi Điều tra “năng lực sức khỏe” – (source: HLS-Asia Consortium, 2013)

13. Methods - instrument Instrument:
Questionnaire of HLS-Asia was translated into Vietnamese, and then back translated
Face validation with experts
Pre-test with the target participants
Data collection:
self-administrated questionnaire
Time frame:
Jan – Oct 2014

14. Results and discussion

15. Table 1: Socio-demographic characteristics of nation-wide randomly sampled populations (n=1000)
Variables
Values n
Percentage
Age (n=909)
Range 17-79
40.79± 14.38
 Age groups
17-24
143
15.5
25-34
217
23.5
35-44
189
20.5
45-54
201
22.1
55-64
105
11.6
65 and older 54
5.9
Gender (n= 914 )
Female
519
56.8
Male
395
43.2
The highest education attainment (n=924)
Junior high school and below
292
31.9
Senior high school
335
36.6
University and above
289
31.5
Marital status (n=924)
Never married
171
18.5
Married
703
76.1
Divorced, widowed, separated 50
5.4
Religious belief (n=924)
Non-specific religion
615
66.6
Religion (Buddhism, Christian, Catholics, Islam, Others)
309
33.4
Residence location (n= 924) 
Urban
328
35.5
Rural
302
32.7
Island
294
31.8

16. Table 2: HL scores between different subgroups of population
Variables
General Health Literacy
Health care
Literacy
Deases Prevention
Health Promotion
(mean + SD)
Gender
Male
Female
P>0,05
Location
Urban (1)
Rural (2)
Island (3)
P(1,2)=0.016
P(1,3)=0.02
P(2,3)<0.01
P(1,2)=0.116
P(1,3)=0.09
P(1,2)=0.002
P(1,3)=0.023
P(1,2)=0.083
P(1,3)<0.01
Mean health literacy score of
Taiwanese university students: 34.2 ± 6.5 (Lee F, 2012)

17. Table 3: Health Literacy thresholds
General Health Literacy
Health care
Literacy
Deases Prevention
Health Promotion
N (%)
Inadequate
253 (27.4)
313 (33.9)
266 (28.8)
288 (31.2)
Problematic
335 (36.3)
242 (26.2)
264 (28.6)
Sufficient
210 (22.7)
236 (25.5)
243 (26.3)
229 (24.8)
Excellent
126 (13.6)
122 (13.2)
173 (18.7)
143 (15.5)
Limited HL
63.7%
61.3%
55.0%
59.8%
Limited: Taiwanese students: 44.3% (Lee 2012); EU: 47.6% (Pleasant 2012)
Inadequate: Singapore:11,6%; Japan: 15.5%

18. Conclusion First survey in a coastal sub-region in Vietnam
63.7% of respondents showing limited health literacy
The mean cores differentiated between geographic locations

19. Thank you for your attention!