(Newsletter October 2023)

Three different government agencies are currently involved in the production of vital statistics in Viet Nam. The General Statistics Office (GSO) uses population census data to produce and publish some national statistics, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) provides statistics on the registration of some vital events, and the Ministry of Health (MOH) produces a table on the leading Causes of Death (COD) for health facility deaths.

In accordance with UN principles and recommendations, the Viet Nam National Action Program on CRVS for 2017-2024 (NAP) stipulates that accurate, complete, and timely vital statistics (including cause of death) are to be produced based on registration records and disseminated publicly and transparently in an annual national vital statistics report.  Currently, GSO lacks access to the necessary data from the MOH and MOJ to produce vital statistics in line with the NAP.

On September 26, 2023, with support from Vital Strategies, and UNFPA, under the Bloomberg Philanthropies Data for Health Initiative (D4H), the MOH, MOJ, and GSO signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that establishes a mechanism to share and exchange necessary data between the three agencies to produce an annual vital statistics report.  The MOU also assigns GSO as the agency responsible for the production and publication of the vital statistics report, while MOJ and MOH will support the process by sharing data as required. The MOU is necessary to ensure uniformity in the collection, exploitation, and publication of birth and death data and forms a foundation for implementing the tasks of the NAP.