Physical geography of the CHILILAB DESS The CHILILAB is located in Chi Linh district of Hai Duong province in the northern part of Vietnam. Chi Linh spreads out in an area of 300.54 square kilometers, bordering Bac Giang province in the north, Bac Ninh province in the West and Quang Ninh province in the North East. The site is about 60 km northeast of Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital city. The climate in the site is typically tropical, although the winters are cool and mild. The CHILILAB facility can be accessed from Hanoi by National Road No.183 connecting with Highway No. 5. Chi Linh also connects with Quang Ninh province via National Road No. 18 and with Bac Giang via National Road No.37. 1.2 Population characteristics of the CHILILAB DESS

At the 1999 national census, Chi Linh district had a population of 142,278 inhabitants, of whom 71,580 were female, accounting for 50.3%. The majority of the population are Kinh people, although there are small numbers of people from different ethnic groups, including the San Diu, Chinese, H'Mong, Tay, Nung minorities. The population is widely dispersed across 17 communes and 3 townships, of which 13 communes are in mountainous areas. The population that forms the basis for this surveillance system is approximately 53,000, spread across 3 townships and 5 commune which are under rapid process of urbanization . Adolescents and young adults (aged 15-24 years) make up nearly 20% of the total district population. The health system in Chi Linh consists of a district health center, a regional health clinic (in Pha Lai) and 20 commune health stations. There are 150 health staff categorised as follows: 5 specialised doctors with specialisation degree 1 (2 internal/paediatricians, 1 obstetrician and 2 public health workers}; 25 doctors of other specialisations; 30 management officials and 80 staff working at commune health stations; and 224 hamlet health workers. The existing health care services in the district are diverse, consisting of health centers and health stations which are public medical facilities, licensed private specialized health clinics and traditional medicine clinics. Apart from those formats of health care services, the health staff in the district also provide home-based health care services outside the working hours As far as natural resources are concerned, the district has 4,700 ha for rice cultivation, 4,200 ha for subsidiary dry crop food, and 14,200 ha of hill forest under exploitation. The Kinh Thay river runs through the district and creates favorable conditions for waterway transport and agricultural irrigation. The main food crops in the district are rice, subsidiary dry crops such as ground-nuts and maize. The growing of commercial fruit trees such as lychee, longan and custard-apple has expanded over the past 10 years.. The electricity supply network is functioning all over the district. The funding for accessibility of electricity comes from the state budget, and in some areas, people spend their own money in getting access to the services. Information supply is from different channels: All communes are covered by the loud-speaker system and all households have their own radio receivers. About 60% of households have TVs. A TV relay station and an FM radio station were built in the district.