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Social
News 20/9
USAID
grants US$1.5 mil to
The US Trade and
Development Agency (USTDA) and the Ho Chi Minh City Management Authority for
Urban Railways signed a grant agreement on September 18 for a feasibility
study on fully integrated information solutions for the central control of a
metro system in
This is the third
time USTDA has provided non-refundable aid to help the city implement an
urban railway system.
Bui Xuan Cuong,
head of the Ho Chi Minh City Management Authority for Urban Railways said the
project has a total projected cost of US$1.5 million, of which US$900,000 is
sourced from USTDA, US$600, 000 from Cisco Systems and the remaining from the
city’s budget.
When the study is
completed, it should help the management board outline a long-term vision,
connect information system in the urban railway system and improve the
efficiency of business and management capacity.
Addressing the
ceremony, US embassy Chargé d'Affaire Claire Pierangelo said the US
technology plays an important role in supporting HCM City’s infrastructure
development while hoping that cooperative relations between the US and
Vietnam will further develop in the future.
Prime
Minister instructs new measles vaccination drive
The Prime Minister
has issued a directive requiring authorities of all provinces and
centrally-run cities to ensure at least 95% of children aged 1-14 in their
localities receive measles and Rubella vaccination in a national drive from
now to early next year.
The Ministry of
Health is instructed to work with relevant agencies and provincial and
municipal People’s Committees to build detailed plans for the vaccination
drive.
At the same time,
the ministry must ensure sufficient supply of vaccines and other necessary
materials for all localities.
The Ministry of
Education and Training is tasked with raising the awareness of teachers,
children and parents about the importance of vaccination.
The Prime Minister
also requests the Ministry of National Defence to assist vaccination efforts
in remote areas.
Many localities
across the country have launched their own plans on giving measles and
Rubella shots to children.
A measles epidemic
erupted in the country in the first quarter of this year with outbreaks
reported in 61 out of 63 cities and provinces. As many as 5,031 cases of
measles were recorded in
LG offers
scholarships and internship programme
LG Electronics
Vietnam on September 18 announced the establishment of a five year
scholarship and internship programme with Vietnam National University
Students aiming to develop high-quality human resources in field of science
and technology.
Pursuant to the
agreement the company will offer five scholarships worth US$1,700 each
annually to final-year students of
Earlier, the company
had signed similar agreements with Hanoi University of Science and Technology
and
Last 175
Vietnamese workers in
The last group of
175 Vietnamese workers in
This is the last
evacuation of Vietnamese workers jointly held by the Vietnamese Embassy in
Libya, a working team from the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social
Affairs, and labour export companies, said Vietnamese Ambassador to Libya Dao
Duy Tien.
The last group
comprises 103 people working in the coastal city of
The workers
travelled by bus to the Ras Adjir border gate between Libya and Tunisia
before taking flights back to Vietnam at Tunis international airport, said
Nguyen Duc Nam, head of the working team in Tripoli.
However, there are
two workers remaining in Ghadamis despite persuasions from their families,
labour export companies and Ambassador Tien.
Regarding to three
workers reported missing from late July, the Vietnamese Embassy has made
contacts for many times with local authorities and relevant agencies and
employers, asking for help in a search for them, but yet to locate
whereabouts of the three workers.
First
congress of Vietnam-Singapore Friendship Association opens
The establishment
of the Vietnam-Singapore Friendship Association (VSFA) aims to serve as a
bridge promoting cooperation in politics, economics, culture, trade, tourism
as well as strengthening mutual understanding between the two peoples.
President of the
Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO), Vu Xuan Hong made the
remark at the first congress of the VSFA held in
The VUFO President
congratulated the VFSFA on its establishment and becoming the 109th member of
VUFO.
The Party and the
State have attached great importance to enhancing relations with nations in
the South East Asia including
VUFO PresidentVu
Xuan Hong and Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Quang Vinh expressed hope that the
VSFA will conduct practical and effective activities to deepen mutual
understanding among peoples of
Hong also asked the
Singaporean embassy to support the establishment of the association to
further increase people-to-people exchange to match the full potential of
both nations’ friendship relations.
The congress
elected a 29 member-executive committee and appointed National Finance
Supervisory Commission Chairman Vu Viet Ngoan as Chairman of the association
in the 2014-2019 period.
VSFA President Vu
Viet Ngoan said the association’s objectives are to organise diverse
activities to accelerate trade and economic ties, seminars on culture and
arts and co-ordinate with relevant agencies to boost tourism, environment and
educational activities.
Raymond Chow,
Deputy Chief of
“
“This study shows
us how
The report “Moving
toward universal Health coverage of Social health insurance in Vietnam:
Assessment and Options” offers a comprehensive assessment of Vietnam’s
implementation of its social health insurance programme, as well as
recommendations on key reforms to achieve universal coverage.
According to the
report, thanks to higher government spending in health care services, the
insurance programme, which was piloted in 1989, has greatly boosted the
number of people with health insurance. In 2010, 60 percent of the population
got covered, up from 10 percent in the early 1990s.
The report proposed
reforms in several areas, including further increasing insurance coverage
through premium subsidies, encouraging family enrollment and enforcing
enrollment compliance, and improving equity and financial protection by
cutting down on extra charges outside of policy and introducing catastrophic
cost coverage.
It also suggests s
strengthening health financing arrangements by ensuring money is spent more
effectively and efficiently on drugs, and increasing accountability by
intensifying the organisation, management and governance of social health
insurance.
Agricultural
sector to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
The Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development aims to reduce CO2 emissions by 5.7 million
tonnes by 2020, approximately 10% of total greenhouse gas emissions.
To realise this
goal, the sector will apply environmentally-friendly farming techniques,
Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh said in a forum in
The forum was
jointly held by the ministry, the International Support Group (ISG), the
Environment and Development Foundation (EDF), and SNV Netherlands Development
Organisation.
The ministry’s
Department of Cultivation will examine measures for treating and reducing
waste in rural areas to reduce CO2 emissions and increase economic
efficiency.
Rice cultivation
models in the Mekong Delta provinces of An Giang and KienGiang have shown
initial successes, with an average annual reduction of CO2 emissions of 7.7
tonnes and 45 tonnes per hectare, respectively.
They also helped
protect water resources and ecosystems, in addition to yielding high quality
produce, project director Tran Thu Ha said.
Agriculture
produces approximately 14 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Under the National
Strategy on Green Growth,
A&T
hands over Little Sun
The international
initiative Alive & Thrive (A&T) handed over its “Little Sun”
childcare trademark to
The centre is now
also in charge of managing the trademark’s counselling-room service in the
run up to A&T ending its project activities in Vietnam in late November.
Le DanhTuyen,
Director of the institute, said the guiding documents required to maintain
and expand A&T’s parenting model were almost completed.
Across 15
Vietnamese provinces, A&T established a network of 781 counselling rooms,
which is expected to grow to 1,031 rooms by November 2014. Estimates reckon
that more than 100,000 people benefit from the service each month.
A&T has been
running the initiative since 2009 in a bid to improve infant and child
nutrition through the promotion of breastfeeding and the enhancement of
complementary feeding practices in
The Ho Chi Minh
City People’s Committee has decided to invest VND492 billion (US$23 million)
in upgrading the city’s embankment and drainage systems in 2014 and 2015.
The plan is to
prevent flooding and river bank landslides caused by rising tides in the
city.
Accordingly, 45
works will be carried out in 2014 while 17 others in 2015. The projects focus
on reinforcing dyke sections vulnerable to landslides in Thu Duc, BinhThanh
and Cu Chi districts, and District 12.
The municipal
People’s Committee urged districts to intensify the inspection to ensure the
progress and effectiveness of the projects.
According to the
city’s flood control programme’s management centre, there are 52 road
sections vulnerable to flooding, mainly in Thu Duc and Tan Binh district, and
District 12, during this year’s rainy season, which starts from May and runs
through November.
The 60th meeting
and conference of the Eastern Regional Organization for Public Administration
(EROPA) will be held in
The Prime Minister
has authorised the Ministry of Home Affairs to coordinate with relevant
agencies to organise the event.
The conference will
create a forum for scholars, policymakers and practitioners to share and
learn innovative approaches and best practices, challenges and opportunities
as well as creative and transformative solutions for public administration
and governance in the era of regional and global integration.
It also expects to
expand the scope of research and knowledge sharing in the field of
comparative and international public administration, facilitate theory
development, influence policy formation and reforms, and raise awareness of
the implications and expectations of the evolving and dynamic processes
related to regional and global integration.
EROPA was
officially set up in 1960 to meet the desire of developing countries to
accelerate their socio-economic development through cooperation in
researching and improving public administration.
It is a forum for
exchanging information and initiatives on approaching renovation towards an
effective and transparent administration.
EROPA comprises 10
countries, organisations and individuals in the Asia-Pacific region.
According to
According to
Director of Hanoi’s Department of Science and Technology Le Xuan Rao, Hanoi
decided to maintain a two percent of the its budget for science and
technology activities and aims to increase the rate to 2.5 percent by 2020 as
part of the efforts to promote the local scientific and technological
development.
Researches have
focused on the study of varieties of plants and animals, new farming
technologies; high tech lines for industrial and agricultural services;
engineering technology, automation, information technology, biotechnology,
and processing.
To date, 192
organisations and businesses across the city have received guidance and
consultancy for establishment of industrial property and branding such as Ba
Vi Milk and
The city has also
conducted technology evaluation for 187 investment projects in areas of waste
treatment and slaughter lines including North Thang Long-Van Tri and Yen So
wastewater treatment plants and Dong Ke Waste Treatment Plant (Chuong My
district).
Hanoi’s People’s
Committee recently decided to establish the Hanoi Foundation for Science and
Technology Development, operating as an a non-profit affiliate of Hanoi’s
Department of Science and Technology with legal personality and its own seal.
The fund will grant
a loan up to 30 percent of the total investment project at zero percent
interest during the implementation term as for applied research projects and
experimental development, and up to 80 percent of total investment project
with preferential interest rates as for organisations and businesses
involving in technology development and transfer of scientific research
results.-
Japanese
firm provides funds for water purifier
The Halvo Ltd
company of
The company's
technology, which uses condensed organic substances, will be used to supply
clean water in a sustainable manner in the central
The main component
of the organic substance is volcanic ash sourced from
Over the last three
years, Halvo has given funds to 29 localities in Ha Tinh and Vinh Long
provinces to buy its products, Kiyomarukun and HOH, which treat wastewater
and purify water.
The products are
used at preschools, elementary schools, middle schools, hospitals, municipal
offices and dormitories.
The water treatment
technique can be easily installed, and saves time and money.
"At first, the
price of the product will be the same as other treatment techniques, but it
will fall later, depending on the market. However, it is environmentally
friendly and takes much less treatment time, five times less, compared with
other methods," Yoshiharu Yagyu, director of Halvo Viet Nam Ltd Company,
told Viet Nam News.
The company
established Halvo Viet Nam One Member Ltd. in April in Long An Province's
Phuc Long Industrial Zone.
Its activities are
part of a project to support developing countries that use technologies
invented by small- and medium-sized enterprises from
Halva is funded by
the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA).
Rapid development,
industrialisation and modernisation in
Water pollution has
become an urgent national issue, as water treatment facilities, particularly
in poor rural areas, are limited.
The lack of such
treatment facilities has led to increased cases of diarrhea and skin and eye
diseases among the public.
Household water in
many rural areas, as well as in some areas in Ha Noi and other large cities,
does not meet safety standards, a Halvo company press release said.
Labour
export companies live off middlemen
Labour exporting
companies in the central
Some companies even
have to rely on co, who will play as go-between for the company and
labourers, to conduct their business effectively.
Nguyen Truong
Giang, director of Nhat Minh International JSC specialising in labour export
in the province, said that co helped recruit half the company's labourers.
"We spent a
lot of money and effort to go to rural communes to recruit workers but we
were only able to recruit one. Meanwhile, a single co was somehow able to
send us eight," said Giang.
Other companies,
such as the Viet International Labour JSC (Vilaco), set up a network of local
recruiters to save costs.
"We don't
recruit every month, only when our overseas partners request workers. To
maintain a team of recruiters in rural areas is very expensive. That's why we
choose to employ co, who are mostly locals," said Vilaco's Director Luu
Thi Ngoc Tuy.
Yen Thanh District
in the central
Pham Xuan Tuyet,
head of Yen Thanh District's Department of Labour, Invalids and Social
Affairs, said many companies came but were unable to recruit many workers.
"They just
came and announced they wanted to recruit some workers, then left. None of
them tried to explain the advantages and benefits of going to work
overseas," Tuyet said.
Many labour
exporters did not even make the effort to go to rural communes to recruit.
Instead, they just stationed one person to answer the phone and set up their
recruiting network of co.
Vu Thi Linh, a Yen
Thanh social worker who works in employment for the district, said she had
not seen any recruiter from labour exporters show up at the local committee
in more than ten years.
"We could
provide them with a lot of support and information, but they completely
bypass and ignore the local committee," she said.
Explaining the
practice of employing local recruiters, Le Van Thuy of the provincial
Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs said that while many
companies were licensed to export labour, it was not really their core
business.
"Lacking a
long-term strategy and effective recruiting networks, they have no choice but
to rely on co," he said.
This has led to
many problems. Workers recruited by co rarely receive language and cultural
orientations before going to work in other countries; many are unaware of the
type of work they will be doing. As a result, they struggle to adapt to the
new environment.
Nghe An sends
11,000-12,000 workers overseas annually and currently has 55,000 workers
abroad who send home about $US110 million in cash per year.
Erosion
puts dyke network at risk in
Serious erosion has
affected riverbanks in the
In Phu Ninh District,
erosion of the Tien Du drain gate area was nearing the foot of the Lo dyke.
"Heavy rains
last month together with water runoff have eroded the riverbanks in the Tien
Du drain gate area," said Tien Du commune People's Committee Deputy
President Le Duc The.
He added that apart
from the Lo dyke, the road running along the river was also being threatened
with erosion getting closer to the road's base.
Another drain gate
in the district, Cau Den, could not function at normal capacity due to four
sewers collapsing from erosion.
Meanwhile, some 30
metres of the riverbank in the neighbouring district of Thanh Thuy were in
need of urgent repairs after being battered during the rain season, said Yen
Mao commune People's Committee President Dinh Thanh Hung.
He said that
erosion would not only threaten the dike, but also pose a danger to
households in the area. It would also endanger the road connecting the
district to Hoa Binh province.
"We have
reported the situation to the province's leaders but there is not yet any
plan to solve this," Hung said.
The two communes
have put up signs warning residents to stay away from dangerous areas while
awaiting orders from higher authorities.
Some eroded parts
of other communes including Tam Nong, Lam Thao and Doan Hung were also on the
waiting list of those urgently needing repairs.
Hygienic
latrines on offer to rural poor
About 17,000
families living below or near the poverty line from 60 communes in four
provinces, Thai Nguyen, Bac Giang, Binh Dinh and Ben Tre will be helped to
build hygienic latrines under a project aimed at fighting disease carried by
water.
The Water,
Sanitation and Hygiene Output-based Aid project, with total funds of more
than VND15.7 billion (US$750,900), was implemented by East Meets West , a
US-based international development organisation, and the Viet Nam Health
Environment Management Agency under the Ministry of Health.
The project has
been running since last November and will end in November next year.
Poor families that
purchase latrines will receive a rebate. Rural communes that reach good
sanitation coverage will receive a financial award.
Phu Quoc
becomes second-tier city
The Prime Minister
has recognised
The rating system
classifies cities into tiers based on political, economic and demographic
factors signifying their current stage of development.
The island's
promotion follows progress made in becoming an economic and political hub, a
crucial frontier in national defence and security and a crucial transit point
for international travellers.
The local
government has also made strides in urban planning, consolidating more than
70 per cent of urban housing, constructing a 60.72-kilometre transport
network and developing a 67.5-hectare urban area. It is also developing
regulations to guide the management of the island's architecture.
Illegally
logged timber haul discovered
Quang
Chief Officer of
Quang
The illegal timbers
were pending at sector 640 and 642 of the commune for a
Quang
More than 100
timber logs have been removed from the forest. Quang
Programme
improves hospital quality
Doctors at
A surgery to
deliver a child growing outside the uterus had never been done at the
hospital before.
In performing the
operation they were helped by doctors from the city's Hung Vuong Obstetrics
and
Tran Ninh Bao Nhi,
head of
But this time they
decided to operate on her since there was not enough time to safely transfer
her, she said.
She called doctors
at Hung Vuong and Nguyen Tri Phuong to seek help with anaesthesia and the
surgery. Every major hospital in
The surgery turned
out successful, a happy Nhi said.
Besides, the
hospital doctors' skills had received a boost as had that of other
specialists who had to do procedures like spinal and endotracheal
anaesthesia, she added.
The process of
upgrading skills has in fact been going on since the Ministry of Health and
the city started programmes in 2008 to send doctors from speciality hospitals
in cities to lower-level hospitals to improve the quality of treatment at
these places.
This has resulted
in improving people's trust in hospitals like Can Gio, which now refers less
than 10 per cent of its patients to city hospitals for treatment.
It set up a
paediatrics ward with assistance from the city-based Paediatrics Hospital No
2 last December, and it receives 90 children every day and sometimes as many
as 120.
Tran Thi Hoa of the
district's Long Hoa Commune, who took her year-old grandchild to the hospital
for treatment, said the new ward save the cost of travelling to the city for
treatment.
"It is very
convenient for me and others with young children," she said, adding that
the doctors there are solicitous.
Ly Van Hang, deputy
head of another public hospital in an outlying district, Cu Chi, said the
programme has helped improve doctors at his hospital.
Under the
programme, a doctor in a city hospital is sent to district hospitals for a
period of at least one year.
According to the
city Department of Health, more than 50 specialists have been sent to
district hospitals since December. They have trained 130 doctors and
themselves treated 37,000 outpatients and 445 inpatients, performing 141
surgeries, it said.
Nhi admitted
however that the programme cannot resolve the shortage of specialists at
district hospitals.
For instance,
though her hospital set up the paediatrics ward, it does not have a
specialist yet and its doctors are all from the Paediatrics Hospital No 2,
who return to the city during weekends, she said.
"It is very
important to resolve the shortage of specialised doctors at district
hospitals."
Dr Nguyen Thanh Tue
of the
He rued the fact
that his and other doctors' skills are not being taken advantage of despite
being sent to lower-level hospitals.
Dr Phan Van Nghiem,
deputy head of Nguyen Tri Phuong, lamented that the hospitals that second
their specialists end up facing a shortage of doctors.
His hospital has
been asked to send eight doctors, and the burden of their absence has to be
shared by the ones remaining.
"Patients wait
longer for treatment because the number of doctors is lower."
Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tho
of Hung Vuong Obstetrics Hospital who has been seconded to the
"My
three-year-old child has to be sent to my parents' when I work at Can Gio
during the week. I return to the city only during weekends."
Water
drainage service fee mulled in HCMC
The HCMC Institute
for Development Studies (HIDS) is working on a plan to charge citizens for
water drainage service and wastewater treatment fees to ease burdens on the
city budget.
A fee of VND1,400
is planned for every cubic meter of clean water that citizens use, the
institute said at a meeting held in the city last week to gather comments
from relevant agencies on a project of raising funds for building and
operating water drainage and wastewater treatment systems.
The charge is
equivalent to 25% of the current water prices for households in the city to consume
within allowable volumes. This drainage service fee is similar to that of
Early last month,
the Government issued Decree 80/2014/ND-CP on water drainage and wastewater
treatment, and the decree will take effect next year. For the households
using clean water from the public water supply system, the amount of
wastewater used to calculate for the fee is equal to the clean water they
consume monthly.
Running water in
HCMC is now mostly provided by Saigon Water Corporation (Sawaco), and the
city currently collects an environmental protection fee equivalent to 10% of
water bills for wastewater treatment.
However, that
collection is only half of the cost of operating the water drainage and
wastewater treatment systems, and the rest is financed by the city budget.
According to the
institute if the drainage service fee is applied, it will help the city
recover the money spent on operating and maintaining the systems in the
initial time. In the next stage, the fee may be increased to offset expenses
for operation, maintenance and depreciation of all fixed assets of the
systems.
The institute is
expected to submit the plan to the city government for approval in November.
The institute said
the city needs to develop 198 projects worth combined capital of more than
VND133.5 trillion (around US$6.3 billion) for wastewater treatment, drainage
and flood tide control.
Fire
destroys printing-ink facility in
A fire that broke
out at about 4 pm on Thursday destroyed the facilities of a Japanese-invested
printing-ink plant in the southern
The manufacturer of
the products is Sakata Inx Vietnam Ltd, located at
Some 20 fire
engines were sent to the site. Firefighters were able to prevent the spread
of the fire to the fuel section of the plant.
Robert Ng, a representative
of Sakata Inx Vietnam Ltd., said the blaze might have started in a storage
section containing solvents for ink manufacturing. The area had been exposed
to bright sunlight.
He said the
solvents could burst into flames at temperatures of 37o - 38 o Celsius.
According to a
company representative, hundreds of tonnes of chemicals were being used as
solvents for manufacturing printing-ink. He said the damages could be rather
high.
Tran Van Nam,
deputy chairman of Binh Duong People's Committee, said efforts taken by
fire-fighting forces had helped to contain the fire and minimise damages.
Relevant
authorities said Sakata Inx Vietnam Ltd. had invested US$14.5 million in the
plant, which is located on 2ha in Thuan An Town.
Two injured
in train-truck collision
Two train drivers
were injured when a Ha Noi-bound train, carrying 315 passengers, collided
with a container truck in the central
The truck, being
driven by 41-year-old Chu Van Thang from the northern Hai Phong city and
carrying 25 tonnes of rice, was crossing a railway line when it was hit by
the train.
The crash derailed
the train's head which fell onto the adjacent Highway No 10. None of the
train passengers were reported to be injured.
The crash is being
investigated further.
Two
foreigners in
Police officials in
According to the
HCM City Police Department, the card service centre of the Joint Stock
Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) discovered people
using counterfeit cards to withdraw money at an ATM machine in
Shortly after
receiving notification from Viecombank, police in district 1 and
The two 19 year-old
foreigners admitted they had used fake ATM cards to withdraw money at
Vietcombank’s ATM machine and were caught red-handed by the police.
Additionally, they
admitted purchasing a bottle of Louis XII wine worth VND106 million in a
five-star hotel in district 1 on September 14.
The case is still
under investigation.
A total of 125
Vietnamese young people will participate in a three-year training course in
This second part of
a vocational training programme was jointly conducted by the German
Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy , the Society for
International Cooperation (GIZ), the Federal Public Employment Agency (BA)
and the International Placement Services (ZAV).
A preparatory
course for these trainees recently opened at the
As many as 100
Vietnamese were recruited last year following the first phase of the
programme.
Village
helps youngsters in career path
A ceremony was held
on September 19 to kick off construction of a start-up village for youths in
Bac Ai mountainous district, central Ninh Thuan province.
Covering over 1,000
ha in Phuoc Dai commune, the village is designed to have a cultural house, a
sports ground, a kindergarten, and other necessary facilities.
The project, worth
54 billion VND (2.53 million USD), is expected to be completed by 2018. It is
one of the 15 youth start-up villages approved by the Government for the
2013-2020 period.
Once operational,
the village will benefit 150 youth households with 540 people who will
receive technical assistance in cultivation for sustainable household
economic development.
It will also encourage
youngsters to take an active part in building new-style rural areas in order
to bring a new facelift for the locality, according to Secretary of the Ho
Chi Minh Communist Youth Union’s provincial chapter Chau Thanh Hai.
On the occasion,
the chapter presented 20 scholarships, each worth 500,000 VND, to
disadvantaged students in Bac Ai district.
Source: VNN/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/ND
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Thứ Sáu, 19 tháng 9, 2014
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