RESUMEN
The study aims to examine correlations between nutrition status with different factors and dental caries of preschool children in rural areas of Vietnam. A big data based on a total of 690 children (356 boys and 334 girls), aged 2-5 years, living in Van Xuan commune, were thoroughly analyzed. Oral examinations were performed by dentists with the assistance of nursery teachers and the research team. Caries was diagnosed using criteria established by the International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS). The examined children and their parents responded to questions pertaining to dental hygiene practices. The nutrition status of preschool children was determined by the World Health Organization (WHO) standards in 2006. There are factors which have effects on the malnutrition status of children in the research. The prevalence of dental caries also contributed importantly to assess children's development. In this study, the stunting groups have a higher ratio of caries compared to the others. Children's morphology and nutritional status are associated with dental caries among the preschool children in Van Xuan commune, Vinh Tuong district, Vinh Phuc province.
RESUMEN
Objective: To assess the effectiveness of extra-curricular activities in improving reproductive health knowledge of ethnic minority students in mountainous areas in Vietnam. Materials and methods: The study was conducted on 400 ethnic minority students at Dien Bien Dong Ethnic Minority High School in Vietnam. The selected healthy students with a similar mix of study results and grades were divided into two groups: a control group had no the extra-curricular activities on reproductive health, and an experimental group participated extra-curricular activities on reproductive health. The extra-curricular activities were designed as a series of seminars on numerous reproductive health contents. The retention of reproductive health knowledge was then evaluated by a test containing multiple-choice and single-choice questions. Results: Results showed that the percentage of students who did not correctly understand puberty signs, ovulation time during menstrual cycle, contraceptive method use and sexually transmitted diseases in the control group ranged from 34.5% - 83.5%. Despite the fact that the ethnic minority high school students' knowledge of reproductive health was poor, the percentage of students who fully understood puberty signs, ovulation time during menstrual cycle, contraceptive method use and sexually transmitted diseases significantly increased and reached at least 90% after attending extra-curricular activities on reproductive health (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The ethnic minority high school students' knowledge of reproductive health was relatively poor. Extra-curricular activities markedly increased the knowledge of many reproductive health aspects. These findings suggest that it is necessary to improve the knowledge of reproductive health for ethnic minority high school students in mountainous areas in Vietnam, and that extra-curricular activities organized as seminars are effective and suitable to provide and retain students' knowledge of reproductive health.