Public health
In the last 30 years, the Lao public health sector has grown satisfactorily and it has developed a new face, and is now seen as a good basis for disease prevention, treatment and the formulation of the next five-year plan to modernise the public health system and integrate it into regional and international development. Since the country’s liberation the country’s public health networks have grown by 91 percent, covering the poor districts. Village medical kits were set up and number of village public health volunteers reached 16,618; the number of midwifes reached 5,227; and the number of village doctors rose to 534. The public health sector in 2004 had 11,326 medical personnel and ancillary, including 310 post-graduates, 1,710 diploma graduates, 3,860 technically-trained clinical staff and 5,656 certificate-level staff. 726 dispensaries were built (692 on operation) and there are 127 district hospitals, 12 provincial hospitals, one special zone hospital, five regional hospitals, three central hospitals, 254 private clinics and 1,977 pharmacies.
Vaccination: The Government has been able to gradually improve the living conditions of people all over the country by focusing on the supply of medical information available and ensuring all villagers are taught basic hygiene rules. Access to clean water supplies has reached 64 percent and 42 percent of households now have access to lavatories. Impregnated and non-impregnated mosquito nets are being used. Due to these factors the morbidity and mortality rates have been reduced. Breast feeding of infants is being encouraged and salt has been iodised and mothers and children have been vaccinated against several common preventable diseases.
The public health sector has planed for the next five years to implement disease prevention programmes. Access to clean water supplies is projected to reach 75 percent, access to household lavatories to 60 percent, access to school lavatories to 30 percent, vaccination will climb to over 80 percent, the birth rate is projected to be reduced by 3.7 percent, maternal mortality is projected to drop to 200 out of every 100,000, while an infant mortality reduction programme aims to reduce infant mortality to 40 children out of every thousand. For children under five the figure is more likely to be 60 per 1,000.
Treatment: Medical personnel have been recruited and trained to give emergency treatment and first aid. They are now working in the Emergency Section, External Section, Birth Delivery and the Female and Childhood Disease Section at 15 district hospitals, 17 provincial hospitals and one special zone hospital. Infrastructure facilities in some central and provincial hospitals have been improved. The provincial hospital in Phongsaly province was improved and new hospitals were constructed in Luang Namtha, Oudomxay and Luang Prabang provinces. Provincial hospitals in Sayaboury, Savannakhet and Champassak provinces have been extended. Central hospitals, particularly Mahosot Hospital, the Friendship Hospital, the Children and Mother Health Institute, the Eye Treatment Centre and the Rehabilitation Centre were extended. A new hospital, called Setthathirath, has been built.
The public health system has set up a development plan for the next five years. It is seeking to upgrade services at the district level in order to handle first instance and emergency treatment; to upgrade the services of the provincial hospitals, particularly small hospitals, to enable them to treat emergencies concerning external treatment; to improve medium-sized hospitals to be on par with large ones; to improve hospitals in big provinces to be at the same level as those at regional and central level; and to improve the central hospitals in order to have them approach the standard of major hospitals in the region.
Food and drugs: There have been several units set up around the country to produce medicines both for the domestic market and export. These include six (Western) pharmaceutical factories, which together produce 634 items of modern medicines, and three (Traditional) pharmaceutical factories, which together produce 62 items of traditional and herbal medicine. There are high quality traditional medicines produced, such as medicines to treat dysentery and medicines to cure stomach and intestine problems, which are made from plants. These medicines are consumed locally and also increasingly exported to other countries. Pharmaceutical factories No 2 and No 3 have 52 and 10 items of such medicines respectively.

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