Social News 5/6 Birth rate in Hanoi drops, but still unstable   The birth rate in Ha Noi City in the first quarter dropped as compared to the same period last year, but gender inequality remains high with 114.7 boys per 100 girls. The city is implementing solutions to achieve the target of 0.7 per cent in the birth rate, and 0.3 per cent for the third child by the end of this year. In 2013 and 2014, the city exceeded its target in family planning. According to the Hanoi Health Department, to achieve this result the city has striven for better policies on gender equality, and intensified inspections to stop gender selections in an effort to reduce the currently high gender ratio. However, besides these achievements, the work on population and family planning in Hanoi is still limited in terms of the coordination between departments, unions and social organisations in implementing awareness activities, with counselling for family planning not really regular. Hanoi also has a large population, extensive geography and unequal educational levels, coupled with the desire of people to have many children and especially a son, leading to the increase in the birth rate. According to the health department, the ratio for the third child is down but not stable, and this is also a problem when the city is looking to achieve the population target. For the next period, Ha Noi has set a target of improving population quality, maintaining a reasonably low birth rate and controlling the gender ratio at birth. The city will invest in expanding pre-natal and post-natal screening services in order to detect congenital malformations early, as well as ensure productive health-care services. Large-scale education campaigns will continue to be held to raise public awareness on family planning and gender equality. Green, youthful design proposed for monorail train The Railway Project Management Unit has submitted to the Ministry of Transport a design of monorail train for the Cat Linh – Ha Dong rapid transit railway project. The train is expected to have an aerodynamic design, with wedge shape and dark glass windows. The image of Khue Van Cac (the pavilion of the constellation of literature) in Van Mieu – Quoc Tu Giam (the Temple of Literature) will be printed on the centre of the train's top. The train will mainly be green in colour and will have a youthful and dynamic look, in addition to being environmentally friendly. Its body is to be of stainless steel. The train's look will be harmoniously balanced with modern and traditional styles to match Ha Noi – the 1000-year-old capital of Viet Nam. For its interiors, the train will have handrails curving toward its windows, creating larger space for passengers; and its seats will be in the shape of a lotus leaf. There will be reserved seats for disabled people and pregnant women. Under the project, 13 trains, with four carriages each, will be manufactured by China's Beijing Subway Rolling Stock Equipment Co. Ltd. Le Kim Thanh, General Director of the Railway Project Management Unit, said that if the ministry approves the proposed design, the locomotives will be quickly built and presented to authorised agencies, experts, and people who have contributed ideas. According to an appraisal report issued by the ministry's Transport Engineering Construction and Quality Management Bureau, the trains are estimated to be acquired for over US$63 million. The Cat Linh-Ha Dong urban railway project was approved in 2008. Its cost was originally set at US$552 million and later readjusted at $892 million. The entire project measures 13km, and encompass 12 stations and a depot. It stretches from Cat Linh Street in Dong Da District to Yen Nghia Bus Station in Ha Dong District. The construction is expected to finish by the end of 2015, with the trial phase set to begin in January 2016. Long traffic jam blocks HCM City gateway There was a long traffic jam on the national highway at the intersection of Binh Phuoc Bridge and District 12 in HCM City this morning. A truck carrying about 13 tonnes of cashews was travelling through this area, when it suddenly suffered a puncture. The vehicle overturned, scattering its entire cashew cargo on the road. A crane-truck was immediately mobilised to remove the truck from the road, but a traffic jam continued to cause inconvenience due to the large quantity of cashews lying on the road. The authorities were continuing work to clear the road and to control the traffic. Large vehicles continued to be stranded for hours, unable to move. Trucks and buses were occupying the motorbike lanes, Le Xuan Huan, one of the hundreds of people stuck on the road, said. Huan said the traffic jam extended a few kilometers from Binh Phuoc Bridge to Metro supermarket. The traffic police were trying to clear the obstacles in the area. Programme targets 1.5% annual poverty reduction by 2020 The national target programme on sustainable poverty reduction for 2016-20 aims to see an average drop of 1.5% in the number of impoverished households each year and 4 percent annually in impoverished localities. The general goals of the programme are to speed up poverty reduction, minimising poverty relapse and create favourable conditions for the poor to access basic social services. According to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, the programme is estimated to cost nearly VND43 trillion (US$1.97 billion). The investment will be allocated to six component projects, including those to support infrastructure building in impoverished coastal, island and border localities; assist production; diversify livelihoods; and increase communications and capacity in implementing the programme. In a meeting on June 3 with the Standing Committee of the National Steering Committee for Sustainable Poverty Reduction to discuss investment plan for the programme, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh, who is also Head of the committee, asked the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning and Investment to ensure adequate investment for the programme. The ministries should not cut capital for the programme when integrating it with other national target programmes and rather give it the highest priority, especially in localities with high rates of poor households, he directed. Meanwhile, ministries and localities should increase investment in boosting production, which he described as a foundation for sustainable poverty reduction. Ministries should also expand loan provisions for the poor and broaden the list of beneficiaries, urged the Deputy PM, noting that bad debt involving poor households are only 0.4%. He also mentioned a new approach to multidimensional poverty standards, which are needed to define adequate investments for infrastructure and production in poor areas. Tay Ninh's infrastructure development work yields results The funding of infrastructure development in the southwest province of Tay Ninh has proved effective, as evident from the substantial socio-economic improvement there. The Tay Ninh People's Committee said since 2006, nearly VND1.55 trillion (US$68.55 million), sourced from State and local budgets, has been spent on developing infrastructure in 20 communes bordering Cambodia. More than VND600 billion ($27.42 million) of the total amount was spent on building more than 900km of roads, and about VND200 billion ($9.14 million) was allocated for developing facilities within the economic zones at Moc Bai and Xa Mat border gates and auxiliary border gates. The province spent VND313 billion ($14.3 million) on school constructions and repairs, while VND56 billion ($2.56 million) was earmarked for upgrading and equipping clinics with technical equipment, the committee said. It added electricity systems, border markets, water supply and irrigation stations and cultural centres in recent years. Provincial authorities said thanks to infrastructure development and favourable conditions for cross-border business activities, the local socio-economic situation has improved. The gross domestic product of the 20 border communes has increased by an average of 11.8 per cent annually since 2006. The production value of agro-forestry and fisheries has expanded by 6.4 per cent per year, and the service industry has enjoyed an annual 9.5 per cent growth. The per capita income in these localities has exceeded US$2,000, helping to reduce the number of impoverished and near-poor households to four per cent by late 2014, the provincial People's Committee noted. However, it said funding for the border communes met just a little more than 50 per cent of the real demand due to limited local budgets, adding that roads serving border trading activities in Tan Bien, Tan Chau, Ben Cau and Chau Thanh, besides Trang Bang districts have deteriorated and need to be repaired as soon as possible. At a recent working session with the Party Central Committee's Commission for Economic Affairs, Chairwoman of the People's Committee Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy asked for finances for the upgrade of a 240km-long border belt road and for building an expanded section of National Road 14C that passes through Chau Thanh border district, to boost trade activities and defence-security co-operation in the border areas. Solid waste treatment plant starts work on Ly Son A solid waste treatment plant officially went into operation on Ly Son Island in the central province of Quang Ngai on June 4 by the Vietnam Environment Administration (VEA) and the district People’s Committee of Ly Son. The plant was selected as the first pilot solid waste treatment project in the island district by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Spanning two hectares , the plant has a total investment capital of over VND30 billion (US$1.4 million) and an average capacity of 250- 500 kilograms of solid waste per hour. According to the plan, the Department of Waste Management and Environmental Improvement will support the island district in operating through 2015. The plant will be handed over to local operators. The factory will contribute to improving the environmental criteria in the new rural development programme in the island district, improving the living environment of people and coral reefs on the island. Programme calls for public engagement in epidemic prevention The Ministry of Health recently designed a draft programme calling for public engagement in epidemic prevention amidst complicated disease developments in Vietnam, especially the possible appearance of the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV). Reports at a workshop held in Hanoi on June 4 revealed that though Vietnam has successfully prevented emerging epidemics such as Ebola, A/H7N9 and MERS-CoV, it has still seen cases of and mortalities from prevalent diseases like dengue fever, hand-foot-mouth, malaria, rabies and encephalitis. Disease prevention still faces an array of difficulties due to the rapid spread of emerging diseases, the increase of trading and travelling activities and the local hot and humid climate. Poor community awareness of personal and environmental hygiene and food safety further complicate disease prevention, as heard at the workshop. Director of the ministry’s Preventive Medicine Department Tran Dac Phu said the newly designed programme is meant to mobilise societal participation from State agencies, domestic and foreign organisations, businesses, to individuals in epidemic prevention. Accordingly, all communes, wards and residential areas nationwide are expected to implement this programme and over 80 percent of households will follow prevention recommendations, he noted, adding that at least 95 percent of schools are hoped to effectively apply the national technical standards on preventing infectious diseases at educational establishments. This programme will be implemented in association with civilised lifestyle building movements while pushing communication activities to raise public awareness, Phu said. At the workshop, attendees discussed ways to optimise coordination among parties in the programme and put forth concrete proposals for the draft content. Vietnam shares food security experience with ASEAN Vietnamese participants actively shared experience in ensuring food security at the 35th ASEAN Food Security Reserve Board (AFSRB) meeting held in Malaysia on June 3-5. Delegates from the Southeast Asian country also contributed ideas to improve the board’s operational efficiency and seek international technical and financial assistance. The annual event drew representatives from the ASEAN Secretariat, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the ASEAN Food Security Information System and the ASEAN plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve. Attendees discussed ways to stabilise food prices, increase production and seek trade opportunities among ASEAN countries in the long run. They also exchanged information on food security in Southeast Asia and around the world as well as policies and programmes pertaining to national food security, production, reserve and consumption focusing on specific sectors such as rice, maize, soybean and sugarcane. They discussed issues raised at the 35th ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry meeting, the ASEAN Summit and Dialogue Partners and the Strategic Plan of Action on Food Security for the ASEAN Region (SPA-FS) in 2015 and 2020. Participants also reviewed orientations to promote cooperation between ASEAN organisations with partners outside the bloc, such as the FAO, OECD and ADB. Vietnam-Germany University reviews performance in Frankfurt A conference of the Ho Chi Minh City-based Vietnam-Germany University (VGU) Council convened at the Goethe University of Frankfurt in Germany on June 3 to review the its performances and study programmes. The conference was presided by Vietnamese Minister of Education and Training Pham Vu Luan, who is also president of the VGU council, and Hessen State Minister of Science and Arts Boris Rhein, university council vice president. During the event, participants reviewed the VGU’s performance over the past few years and mapped out the orientation for the university in the coming time. They discussed several study courses for the 2015-2021 period alongside existing programme schedules. The university managing board also briefed attendees on the university’s activities, organisational structure and personnel and alumni. Speaking at the conference, Minister Rhein believed the VGU has contributed to education reform efforts in Vietnam, given that the university follows the Hessen State education model and standards. He reaffirmed his continued support for the university’s development, regarding it as an example of the cooperation between Vietnam and Germany. The Vietnam-Germany University is a public university founded under a cooperation agreement between Vietnam and the German Federal State of Hessen. Since its first intake in 2008, the university has welcomed about 1,000 students so far. The VGU currently offers Bachelor’s and Master’s courses, covering the fields of engineering and natural sciences. During his ongoing visit to Germany, Minister Pham Vu Luan has also visited an 500sqm exhibition in Hessen State about its latest inventions. Expanded water supply system operational in southern province An expanded water supply system was put into use in Dong Xoai township of southern Binh Phuoc province on June 4, capable of producing 20,000 cubic metres of water a day. Covering 4 hectares, the project includes water collecting, treating, and storing facilities along with 57,887 distributing pipes. It was built by using technology of the Republic of Korea at a cost of VND323 billion (US$14.77 million) loaned by the World Bank. The plant will supply water for the five wards of Dong Xoai township, seven neighbouring communes, and the Bac Dong Phu Industrial Park, said Tran Xuan Hoang, Director of the system operator – Binh Phuoc Water Supply and Sewerage Co. Ltd. If local water demand increases, the plant’s capacity will be raised to 40,000 cubic metres of water a day, ensuring water supply for daily and business use until 2030, he added. More ministries connected to national one-stop shop portal The national one-stop shop (OSS) customs portal has been extended to the ministries of public health; agriculture and rural development; and natural resources and environment. The extension was launched during the fifth meeting of the National Steering Committee for ASEAN and the national OSS mechanism in Hanoi on June 4. In his address, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh, head of the committee, said these ministries must now continue fine-tuning regulations to become fully integrated into the mechanism by this September. The ministries of culture, sports and tourism; information and communications; and science and technology are expected to join the system in the fourth quarter. The push towards national OSS connectivity is essential since Vietnam is integrating into the world economy, with exports-imports approaching US$300 billion last year, he said. Nguyen Ngoc Tuc, Director General of Vietnam Customs, said nearly 1,500 firms filled out customs declarations on the national OSS portal www.vnsw.gov.vn as of June 1. The portal will handle exports-imports administrative procedures regulated by participating ministries and their agencies. In 2015-2016, the committee plans to connect the national OSS with the ASEAN OSS mechanism, share information about the ASEAN certificate of origin form D and the ASEAN Customs Declaration Document for Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Between 2016 and 2020, the mechanism will be made available to all ministries and sectors in the form of online public services, while extending information sharing with trade partners in and outside the ASEAN regarding the flow of exports and imports via the ASEAN OSS portal. Tobacco, sugar smuggling on the rise in HCM City Ho Chi Minh City authorities said that they had found a rising amount of goods smuggled into HCM City since the beginning of June. Nguyen Van Bach, Deputy Head of HCM City Market Management Department, said that tobacco and refined sugar are among the most smuggled commodities. The city market management forces have investigated 24 cases of smuggling cigarettes and confiscated 23,400 packs, Bach said. According to the market forces, refined sugar smuggling has been increasing on national roads in the areas bordering with Tay Ninh and Long An and over 1,000 kilograms has been confiscated on the national road No 22. Free publications help Lai Chau with poverty reduction Hundreds of ethnic minorities in the northern mountainous province of Lai Chau have risen out of poverty through access to farming innovations and incentives unveiled in newspapers and magazines distributed free of charge. The provision of daily and monthly publications to the ethnic, mountainous and especially disadvantaged areas is pursuant to a Prime Ministerial order. Giang A Sinh - a Mong native from Then Pa village, Ta Leng commune - shared his success story of receiving a government preferential loan which he decided to invest in raising fish, pigs and goats and currently earns over 100 million VND (4,580 USD) per year. He learnt about the preferential loan policy and farming model all from newspapers. Even officials and Party members have offered useful production expertise to share with residents. Chairman of the People’s Committee of Pa Vay Su commune, Phong Tho border district Hang A Tua said Vietnam News Agency’s daily Tin Tuc (News) and bilingual editions of the Pictorial Dan toc va Mien nui (Ethnic and Mountainous Regions) have been popular with readers, introducing them to effective farming models and accurate country contexts. Ma Cang Dinh, Chairman of the People’s Committee of Nung Nang commune, Tam Duong district, said more illustrative images should be printed in these editions, making it easier for locals to engage with the publications given the persistently high rates of illiteracy in impoverished and border areas. Last year, over 1.5 million issues of 24 different papers reached nearly every local commune, according to the provincial Committee for Ethnic Affairs. Activities launched in response to action month for kids The Children Sponsorship Fund of the southern province of Dong Nai will present 1,000 scholarships worth 1.2 billion VND (55,000 USD) to disadvantaged local students. The presentation is part of activities in response to Action Month for Children 2015, launched in June. From now through the end of June, the Fund will also spend about 260 million VND (12,500 USD) to fund heart surgeries for four children. Furthermore, free medical check-ups and 600 gifts worth 300,000 VND (14 USD) will be provided to hundreds of needy children in the province. While in Da Nang , the city’s Association of Charity and Children’s Rights Protection has collaborated with the US organisation Orphan Voice to implement the “Raising children and teenagers under special difficult circumstances” project. The 300 million VND (14,900 USD) project aims to assist six impoverished families to escape poverty and help improve children’s rights protection by providing life skills, child care mentoring, and livelihoods. Da Nang tightens medical monitoring at int’l ports to prevent MERS-CoV The central city of Da Nang is intensifying medical monitoring at its international airport, seaports and border gates in a bid to prevent Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Corona virus (MERS-CoV) from entering Vietnam. At an emergency meeting on June 4, Deputy Director of the municipal Health Department, Ngo Thi Kim Yen, stressed the importance of supervising foreign passengers entering the city at the Da Nang International Airport, especially those from China and the Republic of Korea (RoK) which have recorded MERS-CoV cases. She noted that there are many foreigners visiting Da Nang during the impending tourist season. According to statistics from the Da Nang International Health Quarantine Centre, each week the Da Nang Airport caters to 22 flights from the RoK carrying around 4,500 passengers and 63 flights from China with from 12,000-13,000 people aboard. All passengers from the two countries have been required to fill out health declaration forms at the airport since June 3, and at Tien Sa port since June 4. Also the same day, Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long inspected the prevention of the work at Cho Ray and tropical disease hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City. MERS-CoV has so far spread to 26 countries with 1,179 patients, 442 of whom have died, according to the Ministry of Health. In Asia, four countries have recorded MERS-CoV cases: the Philippines, Malaysia, the RoK and China. Vietnam has implemented drastic prevention measures due to the rapid spreading of MERS-CoV. MERS-CoV, first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012, belongs to a family of corona viruses including SARS, which haunted Asia in 2003. The disease can spread between people and causes fevers, breathing problems, pneumonia and kidney failure. The mortality rate of those infected with the virus is about 51 percent. No vaccine is currently available. Programme calls for public engagement in epidemic prevention The Ministry of Health recently designed a draft programme calling for public engagement in epidemic prevention amidst complicated disease developments in Vietnam, especially the possible appearance of the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV). Reports at a workshop held in Hanoi on June 4 revealed that though Vietnam has successfully prevented emerging epidemics such as Ebola, A/H7N9 and MERS-CoV, it has still seen cases of and mortalities from prevalent diseases like dengue fever, hand-foot-mouth, malaria, rabies and encephalitis. Disease prevention still faces an array of difficulties due to the rapid spread of emerging diseases, the increase of trading and travelling activities and the local hot and humid climate. Poor community awareness of personal and environmental hygiene and food safety further complicate disease prevention, as heard at the workshop. Director of the ministry’s Preventive Medicine Department Tran Dac Phu said the newly designed programme is meant to mobilise societal participation from State agencies, domestic and foreign organisations, businesses, to individuals in epidemic prevention. Accordingly, all communes, wards and residential areas nationwide are expected to implement this programme and over 80 percent of households will follow prevention recommendations, he noted, adding that at least 95 percent of schools are hoped to effectively apply the national technical standards on preventing infectious diseases at educational establishments. This programme will be implemented in association with civilised lifestyle building movements while pushing communication activities to raise public awareness, Phu said. At the workshop, attendees discussed ways to optimise coordination among parties in the programme and put forth concrete proposals for the draft content.- Campaigns mark World Environment Day in central provinces Campaigns to mark World Environment Day, which falls on June 5 every year, are being held in the central Quang Tri and Thua Thien - Hue provinces. The campaigns raised awareness about responsible consumption and conservation of clean water. The natural resources and environment ministry and local authorities in Quang Tri launched a social campaign yesterday evening, calling for responsible consumption, which could help in the conservation of natural resources. The campaign's message was that some natural resources were running out and that recycling or conservation could help save nature. Earlier, the education and training ministry launched another campaign among academic staff and students in neighbouring Thua Thien – Hue, to call for conservation of clean water and for sustainable community development based on stable water resources. Deputy Minister Nguyen Thi Nghia said at the opening ceremony that she expected academic staff and students to change their habits with respect to consumption of water and paying attention to water resource protection. The changes in their habits would influence people in their communities, and help spread the message of water conservation, she said. After the ceremony, a rally of bikers travelled around the province's municipal city of Hue to spread the message.  Source: VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri