The country has risen by six places to 70th in the 2019 UL Safety Index released by Underwriters Laboratories, a safety science company. The ranking measured the safety environment in 187 countries and territories based on 17 indicators grouped in three criteria: resources and institutions, safety frameworks and safety outcomes. Vietnam got a score of 66 out of 100, indicating it has developing socioeconomic conditions and preventative safety measures, the report said. “But the country has not done a good job in dealing with road safety and drowning issues.” Road accidents remain the biggest single cause of deaths in the country even as it works hard to make roads safer. Traffic congestion, inadequate enforcement of the law, poor driving skills, and bad street conditions are the main reasons for road crashes. A recent survey by the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that every year around 9,000 people die on Vietnam’s roads, or one every hour, costing the country approximately 2.5 percent of its gross domestic product. Child drowning deaths are not uncommon in Vietnam, which besides a long coastline also has innumerable rivers, canals and ponds. More than 11,000 children drown each year, half of them aged under 19, according to the WHO. The rate of child drowning in Vietnam is higher than in other Southeast Asian nations and 10 times higher than in developed countries, the survey found. Vietnamese schools do not teach students how to swim mainly due to a lack of facilities. The government has tried to introduce… [Read full story]
Leave a Reply