The rapidly increasing of population aging in Vietnam poses far-reaching impacts on various aspects of older persons’ life, especially their health status. Self-rated health can provide a holistic view of the health status of older population. The data for this study was utilized from a nationally representative survey, Vietnam National Aging Survey (VNAS) conducted in 2011. The sample of this study was restricted to population aged 60 and over. The final analytical sample of this study was 2,549 older persons. The study used descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression to analyze the data. The results indicated that the proportion of reporting poor and very poor health status was higher among women (68.4%) than men (57.0%). Results of the logistic regression analysis showed that, for men, perceived sufficiency of income, alcohol drinking, and chronic diseases were significantly associated with reporting poor health status. For women, besides having the same factors associated with Self-rated health as men, employment status, educational level, place of residence, and region were found to be strongly associated with poor self-rated health. Therefore, health-related programs with regards to gender-based should directly focus on all the factors identified in this paper to improve the overall well-being of the aging population of Vietnam.

Thesis (M.A.)--Chulalongkorn University, 2015