Background According to the WHO, an appropriate use of life jacket is an effective method to contribute to the reduction of drowning mortality. Till now, Viet Nam has not ratified a specific regulation on life jacket wearing when participating in watery traffic.

Objective and Method To assess the quality and utilisation of life jacket as well as to recommend some interventions contributed to increase the rate of life jacket wearing and to minimise drowning in Viet Nam.

Results The study showed that there were 08 kinds of life jacket with various form and origin in Viet Nam. Interviewing results of 375 high school students in Dong Thap indicated that 93.7% of them had positive awareness on life jacket usage. However, only 15.93% of them utilised life jacket which was subsidised. In this group, 46.15% of children did not wear life jacket regularly. The study also described that two kinds of life jacket with brand of X-26 and Hoa Sua were preferable for utilisation with 88.5%.

Significance A number of interventions to contribute to drowning control were also recommended; namely enhancement of life jacket usage through free provision and price decrease; construction of bridge; replacement of bamboo bridges with cement ones; suitable management of ship and boat; rejection of utilisation of old ships; and assurance of an adequate quantity of life jackets on boat.