This literature review serves two primary purposes. It is designed to provide the context to the mid- term review of UNICEF’s emergency activities for the period January 2001 to July 2003, as well as to inform the revision of the Emergency Preparedness Plan (EPP) for the remaining 1.5 years through December 2005. In addition, it may be helpful for members of the UNICEF Emergency Task Force (ETF), who all have numerous other sectoral responsibilities, to get an overall picture of the recent evolutions in the Emergency sector in Vietnam.