Demography & Weather :
Situated in Southeast Asia, Vietnam is a country larger than Britain and about half the size of the state of Texas. It lies entirely within the tropics, extending between 9° and 23° N. It has a long coastline on the Gulf of Tonkin and the South China Sea. On the landward side it borders China in the north and Laos and Cambodia in the west.

Like other countries of the region, it has a tropical monsoon climate dominated by south to southeasterly winds from May until September and northerly to northeasterly winds between October and April. There are considerable areas of high land rising to over 2,450 m/8,000 ft, particularly in the northwest and in the central highlands facing the South China Sea. In the north around Hanoi and in the south around Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) there are extensive low-lying regions in the Red River delta and the Mekong delta respectively. These two lowlands contain a large proportion of the population and the productive rice-growing areas.

The general features of the climate of Vietnam also apply to the two adjoining countries, Laos and Cambodia; all three countries are often grouped together under the name Indo-China. Over most of Indo-China there is a single rainy season at the time of the south monsoon between May and September. During the rest of the year rainfall is infrequent and light.

On the coast and in those parts of the central highlands that face northeast, the season of maximum rainfall is between September and January. This area often receives heavy rain from typhoons, or severe tropical storms, which develop in the western Pacific at this time of year. This is also a time of much cloud and frequent drizzle. In the north of Vietnam there are more cloudy days with occasional light rain during the period of the northeast monsoon. The south of the country is more likely to be dry and sunny at this time. In the southern and central parts of Indo-China, temperatures remain high around the year, but in the north there is a definite cooler season as the north monsoon brings colder air from central China from time to time. The weather of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia is rather sultry and oppressive during the rainy season and the humidity is high at this time.

Medical Device Market :
Vietnam represents a potentially huge medical device market with a population of around 85 million. The country's government has been keen to put funding into the improvement of the health sector. It has been renovating facilities and equipment throughout the country since the mid-1990s, and has current plans to continue this until 2010. The medical device market has experienced positive changes as a result of economic changes and more open government policies towards private sector participation. Though reforms remain cautious, the more open attitude to the rest of the world has made Vietnam much more accessible to overseas suppliers and this is reflected in a strong market growth rate in recent years.

The medical device and supplies market is expected to expand steadily in Vietnam over the next few years, in line with the increasing value of imports, which account for just under 80% of the market. It is expected that the device market will continue to expand at an average rate of 10.4% per annum.

In January 2007, the country became a member of the WTO, and this will undoubtedly attract more investment from abroad.