English - CEDAW Southeast Asia

A Gendered and Rights-Based Review of Vietnamese Legal Documents through the Lens of CEDAW
ensuring that mobile teams that cater to women have women staff, are gendersensitive
and are trained to address gender and women’s health-care needs and
concerns;
training on gender aspects of health care should be mandatory for health
professionals;
strengthening the institutionalization of professional social work in health care. In
relation to this, see suggestions on social work in Part V.1.3.6.
Second, in relation to health-care budgets, it is suggested that gender-responsive
budgeting be implemented to monitor the extent of allocation and cost provided to gender and
women’s concerns. In relation to socialization and increasing privatization of the health-care
sector, several research and monitoring initiatives must be initiated. In particular, there is a
need to research and monitor continuously the impact of socialization and privatization in
relation to access to health-care services by women, ethnic minorities, the poor and other
disadvantaged groups. The impact on the women within disadvantaged groups must also be
evaluated. Sex-disaggregated data and gender analysis is critical in this research and
monitoring work.
Recommendations: There is a need to supplement legal and policy documents
with several measures, such as: (a) building or strengthening of health-care centres
that specifically focus on health-care concerns of women, including diseases and
infections that disproportionately affect them. On this note, putting in place targets for
the incorporation of such specialized health-care centres into the health-care
infrastructure from central to local levels is suggested; (b) putting in place measures
relating to GBV. Se Part V.1.3.6. Additionally, it is suggested that women’s protection
units be established in hospitals to cater specifically to victims of GBV and ensure
immediate to the victim’s medical needs; (c) putting in place targets for women’s
participation in leadership positions in the health-care sector. See recommendations
under Part V.5.3 for details; (d) ensuring that mobile teams that cater to women have a
substantial proportion of women staff, are gender-sensitive and are trained to address
gender and women’s health-care needs and concerns; (e) training on gender aspects of
health care should be mandatory for health professionals; (f) strengthening
institutionalization of professional social work in health care as per recommendations
in Part V.1.3.6. In all these recommendations, special attention and mention must be
made on prioritizing ethnic minority women and women from remote and mountainous
regions, who have been clearly disadvantaged in their right to access health care.
Legal provisions should also be in place relating to gender-responsive budgeting.
At the minimum, information must be made available to the extent of allocation and cost
provided to gender and women’s concerns. In relation to socialization and increasing
privatization of the health-care sector, research and monitoring initiatives must be
initiated. In particular, there is a need to research and monitor continuously the impact
of socialization and privatization in relation to access to health-care services by
women, ethnic minorities, the poor and other disadvantaged groups, especially women
in these groups. Measures to collect sex-disaggregated data and enable gender
analysis of such data must be in place.
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Health (Article 12 of CEDAW)