Moving to Vietnam with toddlers - bird flu and HFMD worries

Sleeping with the animals

You have to remember a lot of rural families just about live with their animals. They live in stilt houses with the family on the suspended (first) floor and the animals on the ground floor.

Furthermore, the young children play amongst the "farm yard" animals such as chickens and ducks.

This makes for a very contaminated atmosphere, as anyone who has witnessed a chicken become airborne!

Ho Chi Minh City

TP HCM is a city of around 10-million people, many of which aren't documented - or counted, Much of the central core is like London, Toronto, New York or any large world city.

But things are different. Some inner city people keep a chicken or two for the pot and holiday times and last year I lived opposite a man who kept a pig in a compound on his roof. The pig was killed at Tet, and very good it was, too.

But this little different to other cities.

The periphery of HCM is comprised of quans, or districts, that are very rural in appearance, in fact two or three of them are very, very rural. Cu Chi, famous for it's earthworks, is part of HCM yet is completely out in the sticks.

Food chains

The food chains feeding this city are essentially two distinct types: the traditional wet market and the (Western) supermarket.

The untested eggs, chickens and ducks who swing from motorcycle cross bars all travel to the local street cho, or market, and they hang there in the open quite unrefrigerated, alongside the hanging carcasses of dogs, sheep, pigs and beef.

The supermarkets use a very regimented system of food production where eggs are inspected (and stamped with logos/dates); the fresh vegetables come from farms (rather than the banks of sewage filled rivers) and the beef and pork meet international standards.

Fish is out of this world ... depending where you buy it from.

This isn't to say you shouldn't buy only from one source. I buy my basic essentials from Co-op Mart (very generous affinity (plan), better quality vegetables from Giants, bulk goods from Metro (Membership) and meat and fish from Lotte in Quan 10.

If you are into 'pure' foods, aka 'natural', aka 'organic', there are several stores specialising in better quality vegetables.

Health services

Notwithstanding the fact that the FV Hospital was employing unlicenced doctors, medical services here are good to first rate.

There are, now, numerous Western trained doctors, either single practitioners or clinical groups, offering a very wide array of services. One of the best is the Family Medical Group, been here twenty years.

There are several hospitals offering 'Foreigner' services (i.e. for money) the most famous being Cho Ray Hospital with 5,000 beds. It has performed transplant operations.

Our Westcoast Dental Practice (many offices up and down the country) is run to Canadian standards.

You are not a pioneer

You won't be the only Foreigner here with young children, there are hundreds of them, all, seemingly, enjoying the same health as they would in their home countries.

And the Vietnamese are busy increasing the countries population with evident great success.

So your concerns are unnecessary. As you would in your home country, if there is an outbreak of flue, you take precautions.

My daughter goes to a VN school and they are incubators of some real doozie flue strains, but quite survivable.

Given the 'unhealthy' conditions here, as in less clean than in most Western countries, your children will most likely acquire better protection naturally, than yourself.

So put your mind at rest, they will likely prosper as most other children do.

Schooling

With a 3-year old you are either looking at kindergarten now or junior school soon. I hope you are rich ... or have a generous employment plan.

Insurance

You will require private medical insurance, which costs. Again, hopefully, the employer will contribute.

Baby needs

Supplies for your juniors are available, but the variety limited. No Toys 'R Us here. Diapers are in the supermarkets, a Japanese brand is favoured by most mothers. (Did you hear the Japanese factory making the moisture absorbent polymer blew up on the weekend - expect diaper shortages world-wide).

Baby formula for ages up to six-months can only legally be sold at pharmacies.

Chinese made goods

Vietnamese regard anything of Chinese origin with a great deal of suspicion. Tainted foods, beyond Best Before dates, etc. There was, last year, a range of cheap earrings and bracelets that caused severe rashes as they contained some illegal chemical.

Best Before Dates

The Vietnamese shopper is an avid user of Best Before dates. For example I picked up a packet of ten eggs today and an old lady said No! and pointed me to a fresher batch, even though the one I chose was in it's OK state.

You go to stores and see women checking out the dates, carefully ensuring they are getting the freshest. Doesn't happen so much in the West.

I hope I have put your mind at rest. Check you Inbox for a PM.