Health and environmental sustainability indicators in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam

Abstract

Trieu Phong district, Dong Ha town and Huong Hoa district are in Quang Tri Province (central Vietnam). These areas were selected as case studies for analysis of sustainable development. Sixteen indicators of two dimensions of sustainable development were defined: eight health and eight environmental. The evolution of these indicators during the period 2000–2005 was analysed using available data in the provincial information bank, UN guidelines and expert discussions. It was found that all, except the environmental aspect, performed well for the province. One of the most important outcomes was variation in the composite sustainable development index (I _CSD) in 2000 and 2005. Comparing these years, I _CSD increased effectively, although the score was low, at > 0.4. Sustainable development situations were weak in the study period. In the case studies, Dong Ha had the best performance, followed by Trieu Phong and Huong Hoa. In general, Quang Tri is undergoing development (e.g. poverty reduction, health and environmental improvement), although the changes are not comprehensive.

Keywords:

• sustainability indicators
• health
• environment
• analytic hierarchy process

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Prof. Dr Emmanuel Boon (Human Ecology Department, Free University of Brussels) for his comments and Mrs Ahimbisibwe (Human Ecology Department, Free University of Brussels) for her review of English in this paper.