VietNamNet Bridge – Cutting the poverty rate among ethnic minority groups by 3-4 percent annually is among the specific targets for 2025 set recently by the Government in its efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in connection with ethnic minorities.

Needy students from Ha Giang receive scholarships -- Source: VNA

Other targets are to reduce the malnutrition rate among ethnic minority children aged under five to below 8 percent and bring the rate of children going to primary schools at appropriate age to over 97 percent.

The rate of literacy among ethnic minority people over 10 years old should be raised to more than 98 percent, and the mortality rate among under-one children should be reduced to below 19 per 1,000 live births.

The government also aims to have at least 40 percent of representatives at commune-level People’s Councils are ethnic minority women.

Meanwhile, the rate of HIV infections among the 15 to 24 age group must be reduced to under 0.3 percent, and more than 50 percent of ethnic minority households should get access to clean water.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned goals, the Government is to integrate the MDGs for ethnic minority groups into social-economic development strategies and plans for the period from 2016-2020 of the country, ministries, and localities.

Inter-sector coordination from central to local levels will be enhanced and resources will be mobilized to complete the MDGs, laying the foundation for the shift towards Sustainable Development Goals after 2015.

At the same time, it is necessary to perfect mechanisms for supervising policies from central to local levels and accelerate the delegation of responsibility to grassroots administrations while boosting the participation of local residents in the building and implementation of policies on poverty reduction, welfare and social-economic development.        

VNA