Representatives from Citi Foundation, Microfinance and Development Centre and the Hanoi Centre for Women’s Development Support hand over personal protective and medical equipment support to health station in My Duc District's Hop Thanh Commune.

All the burdens of taking care for their two sick sons, including one bed-ridden, were placed upon her shoulders.

Now 37, Quyen and her children live with her parents-in-law and a grandparent-in-law who are in their 70s and 90s in a small house in An Tien Commune in the outskirts district of My Duc, some 50 kilometres from central Hanoi.

Quyen cannot work as she has to take care of her 15-year-old son who suffers from serious cerebral palsy and her eight-year-old boy who has Down syndrome.

“Sometimes, I cannot sleep at all because my son is snivelling the whole night long,” she said.

The family’s income depends entirely on the State support of VND2 million (about US$90) per month for Quyen and her children, and sometimes on her parents-in-law’s selling đó, a fish caching tool made from bamboo. Making 100 đó used to bring the family an extra VND1 million of income.

“Since the COVID-19 pandemic started in Vietnam, no one has come to buy our đó anymore so we have lost that income source,” Quyen said.

She said that sometimes when she ran out of money, she had to buy rice and food for the family on credit. Sometimes her son cried asking for milk or grilled pork but she had no money to spend.

On Wednesday, she was among 20 households in the commune that received food essentials, including 10 kilos of rice, instant noodles, cooking oil and sauce together with medical supplies including masks, mouthwash and hand sanitiser.

“Even though those things are not expensive, they are the necessities that I and my family really need right now,” Quyen said, adding that the rice would help feed her family for the next two months while the masks were of great value as she had wanted to buy them for the family before.

A woman in My Duc District's Xuy Xa Commune gets support to load the food aid onto her bicycle. — VNA/VNS Photos Hong Minh

Quyen’s family and 19 others in An Tien Commune are among 110 households in My Duc District listed as the most seriously affected by the pandemic to receive the support, as part of the Citi Foundation’s project for COVID-19-related community relief and economic recovery efforts globally.

In Vietnam, the project is carried out by the Microfinance and Development Centre (M&D) in partnership with the Hanoi Centre for Women’s Development Support, local authorities and women’s associations in 10 outskirts districts of Hanoi, namely My Duc, Ung Hoa, Phu Xuyen, Thuong Tin, Soc Son, Me Linh, Ba Vi, Thach That, Chuong My and Thanh Oai.

M&D’s Director, Nguyen Bich Vuong, said besides direct support for the households, the project would also provide emergency assistance for personal protection and medical equipment for grassroots health stations.

According to Vuong, 40 health stations in 10 districts will receive protective cloths, masks, gloves, sanitiser, mouthwash, digital thermometers, blood pressure monitors, pulse oximeters, ENT diagnostic sets and phlegm suction machines. Some stations will also be helped with installing hand wash stations, she said.

Research from M&D showed many health stations in poor localities lack full protection for health workers while other necessary equipment is lacking.

“As doctors and nurses at grassroots health stations are those who directly fight COVID-19, they must be protected well enough to be able to help the whole community fight the disease,” Vuong said, adding that all the items were selected carefully based on the need of health stations as well as regulations of the Ministry of Health.

Head of health station in My Duc District’s Xuy Xa Commune, Nguyen Thi Kieu Oanh, checks on the phlegm suction machine provided by Citi Foundation.

Head of the health station in My Duc District’s Xuy Xa Commune, Nguyen Thi Kieu Oanh, said all the items were much appreciated.

Oanh said as Xuy Xa was a poor commune, all nine health workers at the station had to work very hard to ensure health conditions for some 8,000 local people.

“The protective gear and medical equipment provided like this are practical motivations for all of us to work safely and take care for people’s health with our whole mind,” she said.

Vuong from M&D said besides emergency support for local health stations and people directly affected by COVID-19, the project would also organise 10 training courses on pandemic prevention and community health care for 10 districts.

According to Vuong, the project in Vietnam was approved very quickly by Citi Foundation within two months. The support was even increased four times higher than the initial plan, showing the foundation’s strong commitment to helping the community, she said.

“We always say Hanoi is the heart of the country. Once the heart is healthy, the whole country will be healthy to fight and defeat COVID-19,” she said.  VNS

Hong Minh

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