Chinese passenger caught trying to steal $5,000 on flight

A Chinese passenger was caught attempting to steal USD5,000 on a Vietnam Airlines’ flight from Jakarta to HCM City.

 Since early this year, Vietnam Airlines has reported 13 cases of theft. All violators have been Chinese.   

Xu Haisheng was taking the money from the two Japanese passengers when he was spotted by a Vietnamese passenger who informed the flight attendants of Xu’s unusual behaviour. Xu had taken a suitcase which was being put in the overhead compartment, opened it and started searching.

The two Japanese passengers named Awaji EiJi and Ozawa Hitoshi then verified that the suitcase belonged to them. After checking the luggage, they reported that there was USD5,000 missing from the suitcase.

All suspected passengers were asked to stay in their seats for search before the plane took off. Then, when passengers took their luggage from the overhead compartments a bundle of USD fell out from underneath Xu’s suitcase.

At the Tan Son Nhat International Airport's security office, Xu Haisheng admitted to the theft. He will face prosecution and kept at the airport while completing procedures to return him to the original place of departure, Indonesia, on the earliest flight.

Since early this year, Vietnam Airlines has reported 13 cases of theft. All violators have been Chinese.  

Vietnamese in New Zealand, Angola oppose Chinese rig

The Vietnamese community in Angola has raised US$58,000 in their recent protest against China’s illegal move to station its oil rig Haiyang Shiyou – 981 in Vietnam’s waters.

The sum will be granted to coast guard and fisheries surveillance forces at home who are safeguarding national sovereignty at sea.

In New Zealand on July 7, Vietnamese compatriots gathered in front of the Chinese Embassy in Wellington, and staged peaceful marches along Lambton Quay street, and Parliament and Government Houses, raising Vietnam’s national flag, posters and banners asking China to withdraw its rig out of Vietnam’s waters immediately.

It had been the second demonstration since China dispatched its rig and a large fleet of armed vessels, military ships and aircraft to Vietnam’s waters in early May.

The rig was positioned at 15 degrees 29 minutes 58 seconds north latitude and 111 degrees 12 minutes 06 seconds east longitude, 80 miles deep into Vietnam’s continental shelf and exclusive economic zone.

Despite Vietnam’s protest, China expanded its scale of operation and moved the rig to 15 degrees 33 minutes 36 seconds north latitude and 111 degrees 34 minutes 11 seconds east longitude, 60 nautical miles deep inside Vietnam’s continental shelf and exclusive economic zone.

China’s armed vessels have aggressively and consistently fired high-power water cannons at and intentionally rammed against Vietnamese public-service and civil ships, causing damage to many boats and injuring many people on board.

On July 8, China mobilised an electronic reconnaissance plane to oversee the operation of Vietnamese law enforcement ships. It still kept 106 ships of various kinds around its oil rig, including 46 coast guard, 14 cargo, 27 fishing ships, 14 tugboats, and five military vessels.

Nine injured as coach collides with train

Nine people were injured when a coach collided with a passenger train at a level crossing in the northern Bac Giang Province's Bao Son Commune yesterday morning.

The coach, carrying 20 passengers, was travelling towards Bac Giang – Quang Ninh.

Seven of the injured persons are being treated at Luc Nam District's General Hospital, while two injured persons have been admitted to another hospital which offers a higher level of care.

The potential cause of the accident was initially speculated to be violation of traffic rules by the coach at the level crossing.

The local police are investigating the case.

Baby dies after vaccination in Mekong Delta province

A two-month-old infant died early today, a day after she was given a BCG vaccine at a health centre in Truong Xuan commune in Thap Muoi District.

The baby had been taken to the local community health centre for regular vaccination. She was administered a BCG shot, a Quinvaxem shot and a polio vaccine.

The baby developed high fever later and died early morning today. According to the Dong Thap police and doctors and healthcare officials from the Pasteur Institute in HCM City and Paediatrics Hospital 1, initial investigations revealed that the baby might have choked while drinking a liquid, suspected to be milk.

She was reportedly in good health at the time of the vaccination and there were no signs that she experienced adverse reactions after being vaccinated.

The BCG vaccine protects against tuberculosis.

The case is under investigation.

Police cleared of brutality charges

The People's Court of Phu Yen Province yesterday annulled a sentence handed down to five former police officers in a case of brutality.

According to the verdict, which was handed down by the People's Court of Tuy Hoa City of the province last April, five ex-police officers, Nguyen Than Thao Thanh, Pham Ngoc Man, Nguyen Tan Quang, Do Nhu Huy and Nguyen Minh Quyen, were sentenced to spend from six months to five years in jail for beating a prisoner to death during an interrogation.

The case's documents will be returned to Tuy Hoa City's People's Procuracy for further investigation to prepare for a second trial. The annulment also voids any appeals against the first ruling by the accused or the victim's legal representative.

According to the initial indictment, the five men were found guilty of beating Ngo Thanh Kieu, 32, to death while questioning him about his alleged involvement in a burglary that took place in 2012.

According to prosecutors, Thanh had repeatedly hit Kieu on the head with a rubber baton, causing brain injuries. The other four had also hit Kieu on the body with rubber batons during the interrogation, they said.

A post-mortem showed that Kieu had died of brain and other injuries.

After the trial, Kieu's relatives told the media that they would appeal the verdicts, saying they were too lenient. 

Buddhists pray for peace in East Sea

Thousands of Buddhist monks, nuns and followers gathered in southern Kien Giang province on July 9 to pray for peace in the East Sea following China’s illegal positioning of its Haiyang Shiyou-981 drilling rig in Vietnam’s waters.

At the ceremony, a representative of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS) delivered the VBS National Patriarch’s message of peace to Buddhist dignitaries, monks and nuns in the world, especially the leader of the Buddhist Association of China.

In the message, the Patriarch asked China to fulfil its duty of protecting and maintaining peace, and respecting independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of its neighbours, including Vietnam.

He condemned China’s violation of Vietnamese sovereignty and called on China to stop similar provocative acts that may further escalate the tension in the East Sea, detrimental to peace in the region.

He also called on Vietnamese Buddhist followers to unite, trust in the Party and State’s policy, and stay highly vigilant against bad elements’ insidious schemes.

After the requiem, the VBS handed over VND200 million raised by Buddhist followers to support the national sea and islands protection programme.

MoH calls for sufficient vaccine supplies

Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien on July 9 asked the health departments in major cities and provinces to ensure enough staff and supplies to meet the public demand for vaccination.

The ministry had said in May that some firms had reduced the number of vaccine imports this year, leading to a vaccine shortage in the health services.

It was reported on July 10 that several parents rushed to get their children vaccinated after hearing about the arrival of the five-in-one and chicken pox vaccine supplies.

Many of the parents waited for four or five hours to get their children vaccinated.

The country has two immunisation programmes, namely the national immunisation programme and the immunisation services.

The Health Ministry supplies 11 free vaccines, including against tuberculosis, diphtheria, polio and whooping cough, to the national immunisation programme, which is one of the two immunisation programmes in the country. This programme is funded by the State and the ministry's budget.

The vaccines being used in the immunisation services, the second immunisation programme, were imported based on the market demand.

The immunisation services also supplied 11 vaccines to the national immunisation programme, and a few others such as against chicken pox, flu and meningoencephalitis.

There had been a fall in demand for vaccines earlier due to low public awareness in some parts of the country and also because of a few reports about adverse reactions being experienced following vaccinations.

In her directive issued yesterday, minister Tien asked the local health departments to set up more vaccination outlets and extend the hours during which vaccination would be available, to meet the public demand.

She suggested that more immunisation services could be offered at district healthcare centres, if required.

She directed the immunisation services to import more vaccines and to take efforts to improve the people's awareness, especially about making use of the sufficient supply of vaccines in the expanded national immunisation programme.

Incidence of viral encephalitis down from previous years: official

The incidence of viral encephalitis, including Japanese encephalitis, so far this year is much lower than that of previous same periods, Director of the Ministry of Health’s Department of Preventive Medicine Tran Dac Phu said on July 9.

The department reported that as of July 4, 357 viral encephalitis cases were recorded in 32 out of the 63 provinces and cities, down 10.8% from a year earlier. Six deaths were recorded, with just one from Japanese encephalitis.

Most of the cases occurred in northern localities, Phu said, adding that children under 15 years old are most vulnerable to the disease, which usually prevails in summer, peaking in June, July and August.

Japanese encephalitis vaccination has been added to the expanded immunisation programme since 1997, leading to a drop in the rate of encephalitis cases caused by Japanese encephalitis virus from 61.3% in 1995 to 10 – 15% at present, he added.

Since the beginning of 2014, the ministry has expanded Japanese encephalitis vaccination to under-five children in all 63 provinces and cities.

It plans to provide 4 million doses of this kind of vaccine for the immunisation programme this year, up from 2.3 million in 2013.

In the time ahead, the health sector is set to step up the vaccination and keep a close watch on the encephalitis situation to timely deal with hotbeds and deliver treatment.

Teaching the mother tongue to Overseas Vietnamese (OVs) youth is an effective way to enhance their knowledge about history and culture, serving to preserve and promote a strong sense of national identity.

The statement was made by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Thanh Son at a July 9 meeting to review the second training course on teaching Vietnamese for OVs teachers.

Son said the course not only helps trainees improve the quality of Vietnamese language teaching overseas but also demonstrates joint efforts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education and Training and other domestic agencies with the OVs community in upholding close attachment to homeland among OVs.

Trainees were introduced to two latest kinds of textbooks on Vietnamese language teaching so they can select the proper one for their pupils after returning to their residing country.

“I do hope that trainees from 15 countries and territories will play a key role in handing down what they have learnt from the course on to their students, and at the same time help enhance the teaching and learning of Vietnamese language among OVs as well as promoting traditional cultural identities,” said Son.

During the course, trainees attended Vietnamese language classes for foreigners at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities and visited some historical and cultural relics in Hanoi, and Ha Long Bay.

The minister of transport threatened to fire leaders of various positions if substandard construction is discovered during his survey in Thanh Hoa Province on July 8.

The vice chairman of Thanh Hoa People's Committee, Le Anh Tuan, gave reports for the first six months of the year, including construction progress, traffic accidents and overloaded trucks.

Regarding the overloaded truck problem, the director of the local Department of Transport said they could only install mobile weigh-stations along one route. They were unable to find any more viable locations to install these stations. However, the minister of transport, Dinh La Thang, said that, since it's a mobile station, the authorities can move it around for surprise checks.

Thang went on to reprimand local authorities over the quality of road construction after it was shown that some roads were so soft that vehicles left deep tire marks in them. Units who refuse to stop work even if their construction quality is in doubt may be subject to prosecution. Thang urged the authorities and contractors to find ways to overcome their shortcomings, especially the road subsidence, before the storm season arrives.

The minister was especially concerned about the drainage problem. The progress of the roads under construction is on schedule, but the roads are easily submerged during and after rains. Thang told the representative of the Transport Engineering Construction and Quality Management Bureau that he would dismiss them if the flooding problem continued. "The roads will be damaged if there's nowhere for the water to go. Any money spent on repairing those roads would be a waste," said Thang.

Contractors were also blamed for letting stones and other materials fall messily on the street, posing risks to vehicles. Thang ordered that all problems be fixed this month.

Ministry orders the replacement of managers of railway projects

The Ministry of Transport has made several adjustments to key positions in the railway sector in order to improve services.

The move comes after many complaints. One anonymous source from the Ministry of Transport said that the leaders of Railway Project Management Unit (RPMU) had been passing on their responsibilities between each other because nobody wanted to made decisions. Doan Tang Ong, head of the unit, even said that he did not want this position but accepted it because he had been promoted. As a result, the Ministry of Transport asked the Vietnam Railway Authority to replace all of the unit's leaders with more capable officials.

Doan Tang Ong was promoted to director of RPMU in early May. Ong was expected to replace former director Tran Van Luc, who was suspended in over the JTC bribery investigation. Nguyen Huu Thang, Director of the Vietnam Railway Authority said they were following the request of the ministry and would give feedback to the media as soon as possible.

In early June, the minister of transport, Dinh La Thang, decided to dismiss the head of Vietnam Railway Corporation, Nguyen Dat Tuong, because of incompetence. Thang also proposed a number of other personnel changes in the board of directors at the Vietnam Railway Corporation.

The Ministry of Transport has always said that the leaders must take responsibility. Meanwhile, Thang said the reason for these changes was tat the railway sector has not achieved real results.

Previously, Thang strongly criticised the the railway sector for its disorganisation and vowed to take drastic measures to restructure and improve it. Even though the Ministry of Transport asked Vietnam Railway Corporation to upgrade its stations last year, all the operator did was to send a request to build new roofs and service buildings for the stations in January. Thang then reprimanded Vietnam Railways for being slow, and assigned them a number of specific tasks, such as improving the ticket prices, services on board and clean up the stations.

Contaminated water threatens Hanoi residents

Hanoi is facing a serious shortage of clean water, as many water plants have been found to be supply water contaminated with toxic chemicals.

On July 7, the Hanoi Department of Health announced that 100% of the samples taken from My Dinh II water supply station contained arsenic surpassing permitted levels.

The department has requested that My Dinh II halt operations, and only be allowed to resume operations after meeting water safety standards.

Between June 27 and 30, the Ministry of Health inspected water quality at 23 water supply stations in Hanoi. Many water samples taken from these facilities failed to meet safety standards because they contained levels of certain chemicals, such as arsenic, ammonium , chlorine and manganese that far surpassed standards.

The Hanoi Health Department has fined Ha Dong Clean Water One Member Limited Liability Company VND20 million (USD952) for failing to meet the water quality standards, with ammonium content exceeding the regulated level.

Global Petroleum Investment Co. was also fined VND15 million for supplying unsafe water to residents of the Nam Do block area in Hoang Mai District.

Labourers live in tough conditions

Thousands of labourers in Hai Duong Province face three challenges: no medical facilities, no entertainment area and no nursery.

Hai Duong Province has about 60,000 people working in 10 industrial parks. Due to low salary, workers can only rent small apartments with little furniture. Pham Dinh Hoa, a worker from Tinh Loi Textile Company said, "We have to do lots of extra shifts. If female labourers can't wean their babies by the time they should return to work, they have to resign."

A survey conducted by Hai Duong Province's labour union showed that more than 50% of labourers frequently had to pull extra shifts. Only 2% lived in apartment buildings provided by the company. 95% wished to have more time for entertainment and sport activities. However, the companies' budget for those activities is limited. The Ministry of Finance gave directives on the issue but implementation is slow.

Many of the workers said that, since they could not afford a TV, they do not know what to do after work for entertainment. The male labourers frequent street restaurants while the female take walks to markets. With a tight budget, labourers often choose to rent apartment in cheap areas where security is weak.

According to one labourer, they should have at least one police station for each industrial park where thousands of people gather together. This concern was raised after many ATM robberies that have occurred.

The Department of Construction in Hai Duong proposed various measures to improve labourers' accommodation such as giving loans with preferential interest rates to build apartment blocks inside industrial parks. The authorities of Hai Duong People's Committee have just approved of the plan to build culture houses and entertainment areas for labourers.

Hanoian parents queuing for vaccine

Many parents in Hanoi have had to queue up for hours in order to get their children inoculated with the “five-in-one” vaccine.

After a one-month shortage, the vaccine “five-in-one” has become available at several medical stations in Hanoi in recent days, causing parents to rush to have their children vaccinated.

Many parents lined up in front of a vaccination centre at Lo Duc Street since 4am to ensure that they would get a vaccination ticket for their children.

Despite waiting for hours and even receiving tickets, several parents decided to take their children home because it became so crowded and stuffy in the vaccination rooms.

A staff member at the vaccination centre said that around 400 children registered for vaccinations each day, but they could serve only half.

Nguyen Van Dung, from Tran Khat Chan Street, said, “I arrived at 5:50pm in order to get my child name on their list. When I came back at 9am, I still waited for one hour more to have my child vaccinated.”

Dung added that many parents are displeased when the centre stops registration at 9am.

“Yesterday, I had to take my daughter home without being vaccinated due to the overcrowding. I think the situation may be better today, so I came at 9am but I was told to return at 1:30pm. Many people told me to queue up from 12pm in order to ensure my child's place,” said Xuan, a mother from Hoang Mai District.

Parking remains tough problem for authorities

Even though Hanoi municipal authorities decided to reopen parking services in the city's centre, this problem is still a headache for Vietnam's infrastructure.

In 2012, Hanoi authorities closed a large number of parking lots throughout the city and applied a parking ban on 262 streets in the city's centre. This move was aimed to reduce the number of private vehicles and congestion in Hanoi. However, several experts said the ban is no longer effective in the current situation.

A representative from the Hanoi Transportation Association said, "It's extremely difficult for people to find a parking lot when they want to go somewhere in the city centre." He went on to say that even after the ban took effect, many people still parked their vehicles on the streets or on the pavement. In addition, according to Resolution 100 issued last year, 50% of the streets are qualified to have a parking lots.

Nguyen Hoang Linh, deputy head of the Department of Transport, said the Hanoi People's Committee showed no sign of lifting the ban completely, however the resolution was issued by the government, so they would have to follow it. "Parking lots have been opened on Tran Hung Dao and Ly Thuong Kiet streets. We'll open more lots across the city, even on the banned 262 streets," he said.

On July 1, Hanoi Parking Company was given permission to open up to twelve parking lots for cars on the two streets. The reopening of parking services has helped to reassure drivers of their cars' safety. However, many motorbikes and even four-wheel vehicles still park randomly on the pavement, especially near hospitals or schools. Pham Van Duc, Deputy Director of Hanoi Parking Company, said they were only allowed to manage the parking lots on these streets, communal authorities still manage the pavements.

The chairman of Tran Hung Dao Ward said they had to strictly punish people who park messily on the streets and pavement to make the new resolution effective. Moreover, they have to find a way to prevent companies and individuals from collecting exorbitant parking fees.

PM okays technology search and transfer program

The PM has given the nod to an International Technology Search and Transfer Program till 2020, which aims to transfer and apply 60% of the technologies brought into Viet Nam.

The program’s overall goal is to seek for the transfer of advanced technologies in the world to serve the local development of products and services that will contribute to raising the capacity, quality and value of Vietnamese products.

To achieve these goals, the program will select and organize a network of professionals to look for new technologies and send Vietnamese scientists to study overseas.

Dong Nai starts work on major public transport projects

Dong Nai’s authorities have opened to traffic Hoa An Bridge and commenced building a tunnel at Tam Hiep Intersection and an overpass at Amata Crossroad.

The new 1.3-kilometer Hoa An Bridge linking Dong Nai and Binh Duong provinces runs in parallel with the existing one, helping cope with heavy traffic on Dong Nai Bridge that connects the province and HCMC.

Hoa An Bridge, costing VND1,174 billion, is an important project in the development strategy of Dong Nai’s transport network, connecting Bien Hoa and Tay Ninh, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc and HCMC.

Dong Nai Province has also started building the tunnel at Tam Hiep Intersection and the overpass at Amata Crossroad.

Both the tunnel and the overpass have four main lanes. Their combined investment amounts to VND485.76 billion.

Construction is expected to take six months for the overpass, and eight months for the tunnel. Investments will be recouped by toll fee collection.

Approval for design of Belt Road No. 3 in HCMC

In related news, the Government has approved the basic design of Tan Van-Nhon Trach section of Belt Road No.3.

The section runs from the intersection at Dong Nai’s Ben Luc-Long Thanh Expressway to the Tan Van-My Phuoc intersection in Binh Duong, with a total length of 34.2 km, including the main section of 28.4km and an approach section of 5.88 km connecting it with HCMC’s Thu Duc Intersection.

In the first phase, a section of 17.8 km from Nhon Trach to Thu Duc Intersection will be built with four main lanes and two sideways in parallel. The investment cost is estimated at VND430 trillion.

According to a source of the transport ministry, half of the total capital worth US$200 million will be loaned by South Korea’s government, and the rest is expectedly raised from local and foreign enterprises under the public-private partnership (PPP).

Four firms install taxi meter with receipt printer

Four taxi companies in HCMC have installed a new taxi meter with receipt printer on their cabs to cope with complaints about erring cab drivers.

The Standard, Measurement and Quality Control Authority under the city’s Department of Science and Technology has equipped cabs of Vantaidulich 27-7, Savico, Mien Dong and Mai Linh with the new meter with printer.

The scheme will be expanded to other firms after an evaluation of the new taxi meter is done a month later.

Several taxi companies have also equipped their cabs with a data recorder, also known as black box. The combined cost of a new meter and a data recorder is VND6 million.

With a receipt, taxi passengers can check the length of their journey or call the firm for help in case of leaving their belongings on the cab.

Ho Huy, chairman of Mai Linh Taxi, said the new taxi meter with printer would help cope with complaints about erring drivers, prevent tax evasion and improve the performance of drivers.

High cost is still a major hindrance to the scheme. According to Huy, the total amount spent to install the meter with printer for 11,000 Mai Linh Taxi cabs is around VND100 billion.

HCM City to have second Rach Chiec Bridge

HCMC is planning to build a Rach Chiec 2 Bridge on Ring Road No. 2 in District 9 in the fourth quarter this year.

Urban Traffic Management Unit No. 2 has been chosen as investor of the project which costs VND871.2 billion (US$40.8 million) in the first phase, according to the city’s Department of Transport.

In its first stage, the first four lanes of the bridge, or half of the total, will be constructed from Phu My Bridge, which links Districts 2 and 7, to Hanoi Highway in District 9.

The management unit will also build an intersection between the bridge and D2 Street of the city’s hi-tech park in District 9 and an access road from the bridge to Hanoi Highway.

The bridge project is aimed to close Ring Road No. 2, following a master plan for the city’s transport development until 2020 approved by the Government.

With Rach Chiec 2 Bridge, the ring road will be connected with the hi-tech park and Hanoi Highway.

HCMC already has one Rach Chiec Bridge on Hanoi Highway, which was rebuilt in 2012.

Gender imbalance in Vietnam worsens

Gender imbalance in Vietnam has worsened, with the number of males at birth in HCMC and Hanoi far outnumbering females, imposing many challenges on society.

In 2011, HCMC’s sex ratio at birth was 117 males per 100 females. However, at present the figure has shot up to 122 males to 100 females, said the HCMC Population and Family Planning Division at a meeting last week with the HCMC Department of Health and relevant agencies.

Such a worsening gender imbalance would cause unwanted results and affect the order of society as well as the sustainable development of the country.

From now till 2050, Vietnam will see a surplus of around 2.3 million to 4 million males, meaning millions of men could not find their partners, according to the General Department of Population and Family Planning (GDPFP).

The reason for such imbalance is that married couples perform sex selection at birth, preferring boys over girls, meaning many are willing to commit abortions due to unwanted gender.

On the other hand, advanced technologies in the healthcare sector, especially ultrasound technique that helps identify the gender of a baby inside the womb, also worsen the situation.

Although the birth rate and the number of couples having the third child have been in decline in Hanoi, the trend is not stable and in some districts the figure is even rising, according to the Hanoi Population and Family Planning Division.

Noticeably, male infants are at a high ratio of 120 males to 100 females in Hanoi, a rise of 1.5 males/100 females year-on-year.

US$1 mil. award to reduce child deaths

GSK and Save the Children have launched their second annual US$1 million Healthcare Innovation Award designed to identify and reward innovations in healthcare that have proven successful in reducing child deaths in developing countries including Vietnam.

The Healthcare Innovation Award, which was announced at the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health meeting in South Africa, aims to save the lives of a million of the world’s poorest children.

From June 27 to August 25, organisations from across the developing world can nominate examples of innovative healthcare approaches they have discovered or implemented. These approaches must have resulted in tangible improvements to under-5 child survival rates, be sustainable and have the potential to be scaled-up and replicated.

This year, special interest and attention will be given to work that aims to increase the quality of, or access to, healthcare for newborns.

Last year the top prize worth US$400,000 went to Friends of Sick Children (FOSC), Malawi, for their ‘bubble’ Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) kit, which demonstrates the impact of simple, low-cost innovations. The ‘bubble’ helps babies that are in respiratory distress, often caused by acute infections like pneumonia, by keeping their lungs inflated so they can breathe more easily.

A similar version is already commonly used in developed countries where they cost at least US$6,000 each. This innovative low-cost ‘bubble’ CPAP adaptation can be produced for approximately US$400.

Co-chaired by Sir Andrew Witty, CEO of GSK, and Justin Forsyth, CEO of Save the Children, a judging panel, made up of experts from the fields of public health, science and academia, will award part of the overall funds to the best healthcare innovation to support further progress. The remaining funds will be made available for runners-up awards as directed by the judging panel.

Further details on the judging process and criteria can be found online at http://myg.sk/HeathcareInnovationAward.  Entries close on August 25 at 11:59pm (GMT). Winners will be announced in December 2014.

Nominations must:

1) Be from a country classified as ‘low’, ‘lower-middle’, or ‘upper-middle’ income by the World Bank (http://data.worldbank.org/country), and not be from the European Union (http://europa.eu/about-eu/countries/index_en.htm). Countries classified as ‘high income’ by the World Bank or that are in the European Union are not eligible.

2) Come from an organisation based in an eligible country, with an innovation used for the benefit of the people in an eligible country.

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