Vietnam''s location in South East Asia (where there is a marked risk for emerging diseases) and its history with recurrent zoonotic disease outbreaks, makes it a critical location for monitoring infectious disease events. HealthMap, a global disease surveillance and mapping system, has developed a system which utilizes freely available, online Vietnamese news media, to detect, categorize and map disease events occurring in Vietnam. The resulting feed provides rich data on disease outbreaks with precise location mapping and substantive case counts which is more timely and comprehensive than traditional English language media sources.