National environmental health planning in Vietnam: flying some kites.

The link between environment and health has been well established, as has the need to develop strategies to manage the environment to protect health. The response of many governments to the emergence of environment as a leading concern of public health policy has been to fragment environment and health functions across many agencies, without effective coordination or communication systems, resulting in poor planning frameworks. There is a deepening awareness by many in government and international agencies of the need to develop 'national environmental health plans' (NEHAPS) to build and integrate environment and health policy and practice.