Social News 3/10 Diverse activities celebrate Hanoi Liberation Day A wide array of activities commemorating the 62nd anniversary of Hanoi Liberation Day (October 10, 1954) has been unveiled. A classical and modern Ao Dai fashion show sponsored by a large number of prominent Vietnamese designers is scheduled for October 10 at The Huc Bridge. A music festival themed ‘Hanoi Autumn’ is set for October 5-10 at the Ly Thai To flower garden. In addition, the 11th edition of an annual exhibition displaying 80 historical photographs from Hanoi’s illustrious history will take place October 1-6 at the Thang Long Royal Citadel. A run for peace has also been planned for October 9 around Hoan Kiem (Sword) Lake. Hand-foot-mouth virus early this year    The hand, foot and mouth disease season has barely begun in HCM City but hospitals are already seeing a rush of patients, many of them severely affected, according to paediatrics hospitals. Hand, foot and mouth disease is a common viral illness that afflicts children aged under five and has no vaccine or specific treatment. The disease peaks between October and November. Fifty-two children were being treated at the Paediatrics Hospital 1 on September 29 compared to 30 in the whole of August. An 18-month-old girl from southern Tien Giang province has been placed on a ventilator after being diagnosed with grade three - with grade four being the highest - of the disease. Her mother, Tran Thi Thanh, said she had fever of 39 degrees Celsius and was taken to a private clinic. But with the fever not breaking and the child getting convulsions, Thanh said she was rushed to the provincial hospital. With her condition steadily worsening, the provincial hospital sent her to the Paediatrics Hospital 1. Dr Truong Huu Khanh, head of the hospital’s neurology and infectious diseases ward, said continuous fever of 39 degrees is a symptom of hand, foot and mouth disease, and parents should pay attention to this. “When children have fever for three days, they should be taken to the nearest hospital. They will have a sore throat and rash with vesicles on the hands, feet and diaper area.” Early detection of the disease is vital to reduce fatalities though many children with low resistance could succumb to the virus’ virulence, he said. The disease causes complications such as pulmonary oedema, meningitis and encephalitis, he said. The best way to prevent the disease is by parents washing their own and their children’s hands frequently, he said. Though public awareness of the disease has improved, many parents ignore preventive measures. At the Paediatrics Hospital 2, the number of inpatients with the disease has increased by 10 percent in September. Between September 16 and 22 there were 130 patients with hand, foot and mouth disease, 23 percent higher than last month, the city Preventive Health Centre reported. Khanh said if children get the disease they should stay at home to avoid spreading it. New Year calendars to go on display Hundreds of creative calendars will be unveiled to the public from October 1 to 10 on Nguyen Van Binh book street in District 1, HCMC. The exhibition is part of a program to introduce New Year 2017 calendars in town. Participating companies will also host activities and exchanges with visitors. Organizers will present awards to the best calendars on the final day of the program on October 10. The event coincides with the traditional day of the publishing and printing industry in Vietnam (October 10, 1952-2016). Foreign visitors to HCM City up 13 percent International arrivals to Ho Chi Minh City numbered over 3.61 million in the first nine months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 13 percent. Revenue from tourism in the period hit over 73 trillion VND (3.28 billion USD), up 5.6 percent against the same period in 2015. According to the municipal Department of Tourism, the number of visitors from China, the Republic of Korea, the US and Japan surged while Russian tourists fell by 31.7 percent. Five Western European nations including the UK, France, Germany, Spain, and Belarus, which enjoy visa exemption, saw an average increase of over 20 percent in the number of holidaymakers. To reach these outcomes, the city stepped up existing tourism promotion programmes such as developing river-based tourism and announcing “100 interesting facts”, standardised tourism services and tips to serve tourists. The quality of tourism events and festival was improved while communication work was also enhanced. As of mid-September this year, 2,186 accommodation facilities had been built, offering 51,353 rooms, up over 4,000 rooms from the same period last year. The municipal tourism sector focused on improving services quality as well as training human resources. It will also work with relevant bodies to turn tourism into a key economic sector of the city. HCM City strives to receive 5.1 million international visitors and 21.8 million domestic holiday-makers this year. Ho Chi Minh City to test centrifugal pumping system to curb flooding Ho Chi Minh City is poised to install a centrifugal pumping system developed by a local private enterprise as a pilot project to combat the city’s infamous flooding. The system, proposed by Quang Trung Industry Group, is set to be piloted on Nguyen Huu Canh Street in Binh Thanh District, according to Nguyen Ngoc Cong, director of the city’s Steering Center of the Urban Flood Control Program. Cong told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Wednesday that the street is one of the roads most vulnerable to flooding in the city and, for that reason, was chosen to test the centrifugal pumping system’s effectiveness. “We are examining the street’s drainage facilities for the installation,” Cong added. The city’s Department of Transport also agreed to the proposal. The project suggested by Quang Trung Industry Group, located in the northern province of Ninh Binh, will use a new drainage system aimed at alleviating flooding in frequently-inundated areas by positioning centrifugal pumping machines at sluices connecting to the city’s waterways. The system, run by electricity or diesel, is expected to drain 96,000 cubic meters of water per hour at full capacity, Nguyen Tang Cuong, director of Quang Trung Industry Group, said. The system also features an automatic filtering mechanism capable of separating water from waste. The separated waste will be transferred to the city’s garbage dump by garbage truck. Cuong also said that there is no need to construct a new sewer system for the pumping machines, meaning the project will have little impact on the city’s existing infrastructure. Quang Trung Industry Group is committed to paying all relevant fees if the project fails to control the flooding. The company also said that at around VND5 million (US$224) for fuel to operate the pumping machines during rainfall, the system only costs about 10 percent of what current anti-flood projects and trash pickup solutions do. Owner of HCM City stall gives away free clothes Seeing the disappointed look of a man who had been looking for trousers for hours, the owner of a secondhand clothing stall in HCM City brought out two more bags of clothes. The man soon spotted two pairs of trousers and thanked the owner of the stall, located on Nguyen Hoàng Street in HCM City’s District 2. The owner, Ba, usually displays only one bag at one time to save some items for latecomers. But, in this instance, she decided to break her rule. Open on Wednesday and Saturday, tube stall offers formal dresses, Sunday clothes, work clothes and children’s clothes. All are free. Ba collects clothes from many people who stop by the stall to drop them off. Many of the donors, who do not want their names disclosed, just put the bags of used clothes besides the stall and leave. Ba says he opened the stall after a working trip to mountainous areas in the Central Highlands, where she noticed poor children wearing no clothing at all. Returning to HCM City, she began collecting used clothes and took them to these remote areas. In response to Ba’s charity activity, the People’s Committee of District 2 has asked the local Youth League to support Ba’s efforts by helping her arrange and display the items in an attractive manner. Flower festival to open in Hà Giang The second Tam Giác M?ch Flower Festival will be organsied in the northwest province of Hà Giang between October 14 and 16. The festival will be held in the districts of Ð?ng Van, Qu?n B?, Yên Minh and Mèo V?c. The annual festival will include various activities like camping, folk singing, games and farming on tam giác m?ch (triangle oat) fields. Besides getting the opportunity to take photos on the "triangle oat" fields, tourists can taste wine and cakes made from the flowers. A street festival will also be organised in the area with traditional music and performances featuring actors in local ethnic costumes. Tam Giác M?ch, or "triangle oat", is a tiny wild pink flower with triangular-shaped leaves. The "triangle oat" fields attract many visitors to Hà Giang. HCM City accelerates metro route projects Ho Chi Minh City is speeding up the construction of metro route No.1, Ben Thanh – Suoi Tien, according to the city’s Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR). The 19.7km-long route has a total investment of over 2.49 billion USD funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency. Hoang Nhu Cuong, deputy head of the MAUR, said 36 percent of package No. 1b, which is building two underground stations, and 60 percent of package No. 2 that builds overhead facilities has been completed. Meanwhile, 11 percent of the work load in package No. 3, which includes technical design and mechanical and electrical equipment procurement, has been done. Le Nguyen Minh Quang, head of the MAUR, admitted that some stages of the project are currently lagging behind schedule. He pledged that more efforts will be made to complete overhead construction in 2019 and put the whole route into operation in 2020. Regarding metro route No. 2, Ben Thanh-Tham Luong, Cuong said the project’s design and total investment are being adjusted, noting that site clearance will be finished in June 2017. This project comprises eight packages with the one that constructs the office building has been implemented. A dossier on metro route No. 5 from the new Can Giuoc bus terminal to Saigon Bridge is being compiled. It will be submitted to the Government and the National Assembly for consideration later this year, he added. Public approval grows on Hanoi’s administrative procedure reform More than 91 percent of interviewees expressed satisfaction about ID paper issue service in Hanoi, the highest rate among six public administrative services subject to a recent survey of the municipal People’s Committee. The rate of approval for birth certificate issue service was 87.09 percent, which was the second highest, followed by the granting of marriage certificate with 84.57 percent. The grant of housing construction permit won the applause of 80.68 percent of survey respondents, while public notary service received praise from 78.05 percent. Meanwhile, only 71.16 percent of respondents were satisfied with the issue of land use right certificate, the lowest rate among the six. The results of the survey were reported at the September 28 working session between the city administration and a government delegation which focused on investigating public satisfaction with services provided by State administrative agencies. The survey also revealed that Hai Ba Trung and Long Bien Districts are leading the city in administrative procedure reform. Chairman of Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung noted that administrative agencies and ministries are using a wide range of software, making it difficult to connect and integrate data. He asked the Ministry of Home Affairs to synchronise management software used by agencies across the city to solve the problem. He also asked the Government to allow Hanoi to hold its own examinations to recruit public workers. The tale of Kieu printed on calendar Vietnam’s literary masterpiece Truyen Kieu (The Tale of Kieu) will appear as illustrations in a special edition calendar to be released in the upcoming new year. Produced by the company An Hao, the Tale of Kieu calendar aims to honour the masterpiece written by Vietnam’s great poet Nguyen Du (1766-1820), introduce its 3,254 verses to a larger audience and offer a new and unique decorative item for homes on the occasion of the new year. It consists of 365 pages, each of which has a picture illustrating each paragraph of the poem. The pictures are painted by artist Huu Hieu and partners during a two-year period. The Tale of Kieu, whose original title in Vietnamese is Doan Truong Tan Thanh (A New Cry From a Broken Heart), is an epic poem in Vietnamese and is widely regarded as the most significant work of Vietnamese literature. Written in luc bat ("six–eight") metre, the poem recounts the life, trials and tribulations of Thuy Kieu, a beautiful and talented young woman who had to sacrifice herself to save her family. Besides its editions in Nom and the national language, the poem has been translated into various languages worldwide, including Japan, French, English and German, as well as Swidish, Polish and Romanian. HCMC quickens low-income housing investment The HCM City Department of Construction plans to speed up the granting of investment licenses for social housing projects and redress administrative procedures to provide housing to low-income residents.   Social housing is built to accommodate the poor, near-poor, State staff, and people who have been recognised as making a great contribution to the country’s revolutions. Speaking at a forum held in HCM City on early this week, Tr?n Tr?ng Tu?n, director of the Department of Construction, said a one-stop policy will begin in October to ensure faster granting of licenses to investors. Investors will only have to apply for licenses at one agency, the Department of Construction. From 2006 to 2015, the People’s Committee approved 51 social housing (low-income) projects with a total of 48,000 apartments, according to the department. Of the projects, only 12 projects with 3,800 apartments have been completed. Slow progress was caused by the lack of preferential policies and shortage of State budget and land funds for social housing projects. The State supports loans and other preferential treatments for social housing but administrative procedures are complicated. In addition, investors’ profits from such housing cannot exceed 10 per cent of investment capital. Truong Anh Tu?n, general director of the Hoàng Quân Consulting Trading Service Real Estate Joint-Stock Company, said that his company had spent two years to complete procedures to invest in a social housing project in District 2. He said other provinces required only a few days. Lê Huu Nghia, director of the Lê Thành Company Limited, said many low-income people live in 10-sq.m rooms that have monthly rental of VNÐ1.2 - 1.5 million (US$55-68). He said the city administration should invest in social housing for rent instead of for selling. Lê Hoàng Châu, chairman of the city’s Real Estate Association, agreed, saying that the building of social housing for rent would better meet the city’s situation. Tu?n, director of the Department of Construction, said research on the proposals would be conducted and submitted to the People’s Committee. About 480,000 families (who are legally registered to live in the city) do not own housing, according to the Department of Construction. This does not count the number of migrants who are not legally registered with an official red book in the city. “The Department of Construction plans to build an additional 39 social housing projects with 44,700 apartments in the next five years. Of the apartments, 30,000 will be completed by 2020,” Tu?n said. To meet the target, the department has asked district people’s committees to review their land funds and allocate land for construction of social housing. HMHC Red Cross chapter sees 224% rise in donations The HCM City Red Cross Chapter in the last five years gave more than VNÐ1.46 trillion (nearly US$66 million) to various charity and humanitarian activities, up 224 per cent compared to the previous five-year period. The increase was due to a rise in funds from nonprofit organisations and pagodas as well as financial support from the government that matches the number of blood donations to the Red Cross, which also rose during the period. In addition, an average of VNÐ362 million ($16,300) was allocated annually to assist 150 victims of Agent Orange between 2011 and 2016, according to reports at the chapter’s five-year congress held yesterday in HCM City. Over the last five years, the chapter donated more than 21,300 scholarships to disadvantaged students and offered support for 58,000 elderly residents. It also helped fund operations for nearly 300 children with congenital heart defects. More than one million blood units were donated to the Red Cross in HCM City in the period, accounting for one-fourth of the country’s volume of donated blood. More than 770 first aid sites were also set up in the city, with more than 10,000 trained first aid officials. Modern contraceptives are more effective: conference Misconceptions about modern contraceptives are causing unexpected pregnancies and abortions, a conference organised by the HCM City Women Magazine and Bayer Vi?t Nam to mark World Contraception Day in HCM City. Modern contraception methods are highly effective in protecting unplanned pregnancies, according to Professor Nguy?n Th? Ng?c Phu?ng, vice president of the Vi?t Nam Gynecology and Obstetrics Association and president of the HCM City Society for Reproductive Medicine. For instance, male condoms are able to offer 86-93 per cent protection. The protection rate for copper rings is 98-99 per cent, the same as oral contraceptives taken correctly. Professor Phu?ng said many women used traditional contraceptive methods, such as withdrawal, fertility awareness… instead of modern ones since they mistakenly feared that oral contraceptives cause infertility, and are misinformed about the association between contraceptive use with cancer and stroke. “The use of traditional methods is less effective than modern ones and pose the potential risk of abortion due to unplanned pregnancies,” she said. She quoted statistics from Guttmacher Istitute as saying, “If all unmet needs for modern contraception were satisfied, the number of unplanned pregnancies would be reduced by 67 per cent from 44 million to 15 million per year and unsafe abortions by 73 per cent from 9.7 million to 2.6 million.” Phu?ng stressed, “Therefore, it is important that every woman seeks reliable information about available contraceptive methods, and get advice and guidance from their healthcare professionals to decide which method is best for her.” Phu?ng said venous thromboemlism (VTE) is a well-known serious but rare risk associated with all combined oral contraceptives (COCs). However, the risk for VTE when taking a COC is lower than during pregnancy and following childbirth. Phu?ng said many innovations, such as the reduction of dose of oestrogen in COCs nowadays, had led to the reduction of VTE risks. “Using oral contraceptives correctly is much better than having unplanned pregnancies, which could cause even death due to unsafe abortion ,” she said. Moreover, “oral contraceptives now limit bleeding during monthly periods meaning women can avoid blood loss,” she said. However, to safeguard their health, women should be screened risk factors prior to making decision for hormonal contraceptive using, such as age over 35 and smoking, major surgery with prolonged immobilization, history of thrombosis, etc. According to the World Health Organisation, Vi?t Nam is among the five countries with the highest abortion rates in the world and has the highest rate in Asia. Statistics from T? Du Hospital and Hùng Vuong Hospital, the two largest obstetrics and gynecology hospitals in the south of Vi?t Nam, show that the number of women coming for abortions has not decreased in recent years. T? Du Hospital received a total of 28,692 cases last year, and in the first half of this year, 14,400. The number this year for Hùng Vuong Hospital is 1,200. On this occasion, Bayer Vietnam and the HCM City Women Magazine organised a talk by doctors for 300 women employees of the HCM City Limited Environment Company late last week to provide them with knowledge about contraception and how to choose appropriate contraceptive methods. Volunteering for the event were doctors from the District 2 Hospital in HCM City, who offered free obstetrics and gynecology examinations and Pap smear to diagnose cervical cancer. In addition to articles being published in the magazine, a writing contest for women was launched on “Tôi ch?n s?ng ch? d?ng” (I choose to live actively) encouraging women to be proactive in their lives by making informed choices on contraception in order to plan their lives, pursue their dreams, live happily and be successful. The entries will be accepted until December 12, 2016. Citizens must help with waste treatment Residents and industrial clusters should be responsible for treating their waste instead of relying on the Government’s budget, said Hoàng Duong Tùng, deputy director general of the Vietnam Environmental Administration under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. “A Vietnamese household pays only some VNÐ20,000 (US$0.9) for waste treatment per month,” Tùng said at the unveiling of the National Environment Report for 2011-2015 on Thursday. “I don’t think there is any other country that charges a lower waste management fee than that.” “The same happens with wastewater treatment. Each household is paying only VNÐ800 ($0.04) per cubic metre,” he said. This equals some VNÐ5000 ($0.2) per month, based on the construction ministry’s domestic water supply standard in 2006. “Such amount is not enough for agencies to treat all the wastewater. They need to rely on the Government for financial support." According to the report, only 3-5 per cent of some 900 industrial clusters in the country have common treatment plants. The rest are either treating wastewater with their own systems or releasing it straight into the environment. “It costs hundreds of dollars to build a common treatment plant, so industrial clusters can’t depend solely on the Government’s budget,” Tùng said. The report also mentions that industrial development activities had been creating pressures on the environment. For example, the Formosa disaster caused by the Formosa Hà Tinh Steel Coroporation earlier this year affected the four central provinces of Hà Tinh, Qu?ng Bình, Qu?ng Tr? and Th?a Thiên – Hu?, damaging the marine environment and the tourism industry. The country failed to reach most of its environmental goals, even though the National Assembly and the Government issued various decrees and resolutions to support them, the report says. Only one out of six goals was reached in the last four years, reflecting the percentage of cases of servious environmental pollution that were resolved. The reasons behind this pattern of failure include enterprises’ lack of interest in waste treatment, ineffective inspections and a shortage of environmental management officials. “There are only 11 officials in charge of all environmental issues of the Tây Nguyên (Central Highlands) (some 54.000sq.km),” Tùng said. “They are overloaded with work. We need to recruit more officials specialising in environmental management to serve in local areas.” According to the report, the five other environmental goals that were not realised are: 1) the ratio of forest coverage, 2) the percentage of urban dwellers with access to clean water, 3) the percentage of rural residents with access to clean water, 4) the percentage of industrial zones and industrial clusters with qualified common effluent treatment plants, and 5) the percentage of solid waste treated. PM urges modern rural development New-style rural areas should be built by farmers who have knowledge, creativity, and a startup spirit, said Prime Minister Nguy?n Xuân Phúc. Speaking yesterday at a Hà N?i teleconference on new-style rural area development, the PM cited processing machines made by farmers to clarify his view. To carry out new-style rural building programme in the next five years, ministries, agencies and localities should enable rural residents to access information and science-technology with heed paid to e-commerce and the number of internet users and businesses in rural areas. New-style rural construction should be combined with rural economic transfer, suitable urbanisation, civilised urban area building, environmental protection and fresh water supply, especially in localities hit hard by climate change, he said, urging localities to continue diversifying capital resources for work. The Government leader described new-style rural area building as a revolution and political task that requires all-level Party Committees and authorities to step up their responsibilities. A report released by the Central Steering Committee for National Target Programmes in the 2016-20 period shows that as of mid-September, the country had 2,045 new-style rural communes, 23 per cent of communes nationwide. The figure is expected to hit 50 percent by 2020. During the 2011-15 period, more than VNÐ850 trillion (US$38.25 billion) was mobilised for the programme, of which only 11.6 per cent came from the State budget. The programme is expected to require over VNÐ193 trillion ($8.7 billion) in the next five years. To hit the target set for 2020, the committee suggested focusing on essential infrastructure, promoting production in combination with agricultural restructuring, protecting the environment and ensuring safety and security in rural areas. To mark the occasion, PM Phúc launched a nationwide emulation campaign on new-style rural area building for 2016-20. Hanoians happy with admin services: survey A recent survey has found that more than 70 per cent of Hà N?i’s residents were satisfied with local public administration services, in particular more than 90 per cent of them were happy with the granting of identification cards. The results of the survey were revealed at a meeting between Hà N?i’s People’s Committee and a delegation headed by Lê Vinh Tân, Minister of Home Affairs on calculating people’s satisfaction with state administration services. The People’s Committee of Hà N?i had carried out the survey to measure people’s satisfaction with six administration services includes the granting of identification cards, land use certificates, house building permits, marriage  and birth certificates and the certification process. The survey was conducted at the Environmental and Natural Resources Department, Department of Justice, Ha Noi Police and all districts of Hà N?i. Hai Bà Trung and Long Biên Districts are the areas that received positive results on administrative reform in the city. Due to improvements in IT infrastructure, the one-stop shop of Hai Bà Trung District has raised the percentage of dossiers settled promptly to 98.7 per cent from 91.2 per cent in May. After reviewing administrative procedures, Long Biên District has reduced the time taken for each procedure by between 20 and 80 per cent.  All dossiers were settled promptly. Nguy?n Ð?c Chung, Chairman of Hà N?i’s People’s Committee, attributed the difference in survey results to the differing perceptions and requirements of people in each locality. The fact that many administrative units and many agencies use different software also created difficulties for database integration, thus affecting administrative reform, he said. Chung proposed the Ministry of Home Affairs to support the city’s efforts in synchronising software for the management of agencies in the city to enhance the efficiency of administrative reform. He also suggested the government allow the city authority to be proactive in recruiting government employees with incentive mechanisms, especially those in sectors like urban management and environment monitoring. While appreciating the effort of city authorities in administrative reform, Minister of Home Affairs, Lê Vinh Tân, urged the city authority to further research the needs of society and set higher requirements aimed at raising the level of public satisfaction. Troubled trawler rescued off Nghe An The Viet Nam Maritime Search and Rescue Co-ordination Centre’s (Vietnam MRCC) SAR 273 boat yesterday rescued and towed a troubled trawler to C?a Lò Port in the central province of Ngh? An. The captain of NA 90000 TS trawler was Ðào Ng?c Hân, from Ngh? An Province. There were 19 sailors on board. Engine failure had forced the trawler to go adrift in the waters, 52 nautical miles to the southeast of Xuan Hai Commune in Ha Tinh Province’s Nghi Xuân District, since noon on Tuesday. On receiving the news, the Vietnam MRCC dispatched the SAR 273 boat to rescue the trawler and its men. It reached the troubled trawler on Wednesday afternoon. The rescue boat personnel provided medical aid to the fishermen who were exhausted and panicked after facing strong waves and winds, and safely towed the trawler to shore. All 19 crewmen were reported to be in a stable condition. In related news, the Steering Committee for Disaster Prevention, Search and Rescue in central Bình Ð?nh Province said it was coordinating with relevant agencies to tow a fishing boat drifting off the Tru?ng Sa (Spratly) archipelago. According to preliminary information, the boat was owned by Phan Van Dung, a local resident. Suffering a breakdown, the boat, with 12 sailors on board, had been drifting in the water, about 62 nautical miles off Son Ca island of Truong Sa archipelago since Wednesday morning. Information about the trouble boat has been broadcast by Vietnam coastal Radio station system so that it could receive assistance from boats in the vicinity. VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri/VNE