Reservoir repairs to cost $110m

Authorities in central Ha Tinh Province need VND2.3 trillion (US$110 million) to prevent 117 leaking and otherwise rundown reservoirs from flooding in the rainy season.

This was revealed in a survey by the provincial People's Committee.

Vice-chairman of the committee, Le Dinh Son, said that 10 main reservoirs, including Muc Bai in Huong Xuan Commune; Dap Mung in Phuong Dien Commune, and Co Chau in Gia Hanh Commune; with a capacity of more than one million cubic metres each, need to be repaired first

Son said that the reservoirs had serious leaks which had weakened the walls of the dams.

He said they had been operating for 30 to 40 years.

Outdated designs and construction in the 1960s and 1970s added to the problems because they did not meet today's safety standards.

The committee sent a report to the Government and ministries asking for financial support to upgrade and repair the reservoirs.

Vietnamese drowning victims in Japan identified

The Vietnamese man who drowned in waters off Hamamatsu city in Japan's Shizuoka prefecture on Friday has been identified as 23-year-old Nguyen Ba Tuong, an intern at a local corporation.

Two other Vietnamese who remain missing were named as Do Thi Viet Trinh, 21, and Bui Ngoc Diep, 23.

The Vietnamese victims were among a group of seven who had traveled to Tajimacho to swim. However, the waters in that area are considered dangerous and swimming is prohibited.

Japanese coast guard and police officials are continuing to search for the missing Vietnamese swimmers.

Contracts inked to build $600m road

The Ministry of Transport has signed contracts for construction of the 77 km La Son-Tuy Loan Express project to link Thua Thien-Hue and Da Nang city.

The Building-Transfer project, part of the larger Ho Chi Minh Trail project, will be built to accommodate four lanes of traffic at a cost of VND11.5 trillion (nearly US$600 million). It will help connect Thua Thien-Hue with Da Nang and the Da Nang-Quang Ngai Expressway project. The road is expected to be completed by 2016.

Tri Thuc Tre online newspaper suspended

Deputy minister for information and communications, Truong Minh Tuan yesterday signed a decision to suspend Tri Thuc Tre (Young Intellectual) online newspaper from operation for three months due to press law violations.

On Tuesday, the newspaper published an article discriminating against people from south-western provinces, causing public outrage.

The online newspaper also was fined VND207 million (US$9,700).

Local police on Thursday seized 1.7 tonnes of dried shredded squid, suspected to be made of rubber or plastic that was being transported without documents.

Police said they discovered the squid, together with more than 12,000 boxes containing a variety of medicines, at Kiosk B6 of the Duc Thang Company at Giap Bat Bus Station.

Nguyen Hong Minh, a member of the police team investigating fake products and violations of intellectual property rights, said that when the squid was cooked, it smelt of burning rubber or plastic. When soaked in water, the squid's colour would change from yellow-red to white. It could be stretched as easily as elastic bands.

All seized goods were subjected to testing.

Project helps replant old coffee trees in Central Highlands

Nearly 6.9 million coffee seedlings were provided to over 19,000 farmers in Lam Dong, Dak Lak, Dak Nong and Gia Lai in the past three years under a plan to support farmers in the region to replace their old, stunted coffee tree gardens.

In addition, more than 16 tonnes of high-quality seedlings were also provided to farmers under the NESCAFE Plan, developed by the Western Highlands Agriculture and Forestry Science Institute (WASI) and Nestle Viet Nam.

The programme offered technical training to about 21,000 farmers on the international 4C (Common Code for Coffee Community) standards for sustainable production and trading of coffee.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the area of more than 20 years old coffee trees account for more than 20 per cent of the total coffee areas in the Central Highlands, resulting in a decrease in coffee output.

The region needs to replant about 140,000-150,000 ha of coffee in the next 10 years.

It is not easy to plant young coffee trees because they can easily be attacked by nematodes.

Le Ngoc Bau, director of the WASI, said the plan had helped untie difficulties involved in replanting old coffee trees.

Along with training coffee farmers in sustainable cultivation, Nestle Viet Nam also supported the institute in many other works, including upgrading laboratories, funding tissue implant multiplication equipment, and building an area for testing coffee trees which can be resistant again nematodes.

The WASI has conducted research to create new seedlings with high productivity and disease resistance, which can yield an output of up to 7 tonnes per hectares nearly doubling the present average output, he said.

The plan will hand over seven million coffee seedlings to growers and train 24,000 coffee farmers in five Central Highlands provinces by the year-end.

HCM City labour federation gives helping hand

The HCM City Labour Federation has undertaken a series of activities this year to help disadvantaged workers in the city.

It handed out 155 scholarships each worth VND1-2.5 million (US$48-119) to children of disadvantaged workers for the new academic year.

It funded heart surgeries for two workers and children of two others at a total cost of VND773 million (US$37,000).

It gave away 1,000 radios to workers at industrial parks and export processing zones last month and will gift 10,000 in all this year.

Experts discuss population policy

While Viet Nam's population policy has been largely successful, remote areas still face major difficulties, experts said in a conference on Friday in Ha Noi.

Viet Nam had made impressive progress in achieving its population goals, said Pham Van Linh, deputy chairman of the Central Commission for Publicity and Education (CCPE), citing data from the 2009 census and other population-based surveys.

The average Vietnamese woman now has two children, meaning that the country reached replacement level fertility many years earlier than the Politburo's target, according to the official. Reductions in maternal and child mortality had also been impressive.

"However, progress made at the national level masks disparities at the sub-national level. Inequalities and disparities have been increasing and are accompanied by new forms of poverty and vulnerability that will require greater attention in the coming years," Linh said.

The mortality rate of children under five fell from 58 per 10,000 live births in 1990 to 23.2 in 2012, while the mortality rate of children under one decreased from 44.4 in 1990 to 15.4 in 2012. The maternal mortality rate decreased more than threefold, from 233 per 100,000 live births in 1990 to 68 in 2012.

However, the rate was vastly different in different localities. In the Hong (Red) River Delta, the 2012 mortality rate of children under one was 12.3, but in the Central Highlands area, it was 26.4, according to the General Office for Population and Family Planning. Similarly, the maternal mortality rate in mountainous areas was 108, whereas the rate in plains areas was only 36.

Professor Nguyen Dinh Cu from the National Economics University's Institute of Population and Social Issues said it was crucial to shift from population-family planning policy to population-development policy by improving the quality of human resources through enhanced education, with an emphasis on reproductive health.

"This is a must to ensure a people-centred principle for development," he said.

As the population changed, Cu added, it was essential to establish a comprehensive and reliable population data system in order to ensure the effectiveness of policy and plan implementation.

Arthur Erken, UNFPA Representative in Viet Nam, said that the new Population Law must ensure that all population groups, regardless of age, sex, marital, income or health status, geographical location or ethnicity had equal access to sexual and reproductive health services.

"The new law is an excellent opportunity for Viet Nam to protect the rights of couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children and to have information to do so," he said.

The conference was organised by the CCPE and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Viet Nam in preparation for the CCPE's review of the ten years of implementation of the Politburo's Resolution 47-NQ/TW on strengthening the implementation of the population and family planning policies, which will be held in March next year.

Overloaded trucks advised to cull cargo

Dozens of trucks overloaded with wood have been stuck at the La Lay border gate in central Quang Tri Province for three weeks.

Nguyen Van Long, a customs official at the border gate said that as many as 73 trucks had queued up for nearly one kilometre in front of the border gate since July 25.

Border authorities have told the drivers to unload part of their cargo before they can get a customs clearance.

He said they would not be allowed to proceed unless they complied with the order.

However, reports say the border gate area is not big enough to store all the wood.

Nguyen Huu Tho, a truck driver said his truck had been stuck for more than 10 days.

"The owner of the wood told me to unload the cargo and get a clearance, but there is no place to do the job," he said.

Nguyen Huu Dung, vice chairman of the provincial People's Committee, said that the committee was working with relevant departments and sectors to solve the problem.

He said the 12-km-long road from the border gate to HCM City was built years ago and could only handle trucks with loads of less than 18 tonnes.

"These trucks are really heavy. If they get customs clearance and pass on this road, they will damage it," he said.

To solve the problem, the People's Committee has told border officials to quickly find an area for the truck to unload.

He predicted the traffic jam at the border would disappear in the next few days.

Water checks key to fighting diarrhoea

The Ministry of Health has ordered localities to supervise water quality at water supply stations to prevent outbreaks of acute diarrhoea, particularly in poor areas.

The use of unsafe water sources was one of the main reasons for digestion-related diseases, said deputy head of the ministry's Preventive Medicine Department, Tran Dac Phu, at a workshop held in HCM City on Tuesday to seek measures to prevent acute diarrhoea.

Local health departments should provide citizens with chemicals like Cloramin B to help sterilise water, he said.

Earlier this month, Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien led an inspection team to check the water supply in Le Minh Xuan Commune in HCM City's Binh Chanh District where an out break had broken out.

The inspection team found the problem had been caused by a lack of safe water and sanitation.

As of June, inspectors from the Medical Health Management Department had tested the quality of 1,722 water supply facilities and found 24 per cent of them were substandard.

Phu also urged local health departments to build clean toilets for poor households as part of measures to help prevent diarrhoea.

Do Manh Cuong, a representative from the ministry's Environment Department, said the number of standard toilets built in rural areas had increased slowly by 1 per cent in the first half of this year. An estimated of 1.3 million households in rural areas still lacked toilets, he said.

Participants also said localities should raise awareness about basic hygiene.

The country has an average of 500,000 diarrhoea cases each year.

Since the beginning of this year, 301,570 incidences of diarrhoea were reported with three fatalities, including one in the central province of Thanh Hoa and two more in HCM City.

Int'l food security conference held

Climate change, urbanisation, and industrialisation are taking over farmland, posing a threat to food security all over the world, said participants at the conference of the Asian Food Safety Association (AFSA) in southern Dong Nai province.

Delegates from nearly 20 countries suggested improving food quality and output through technological application at a session on Saturday.

In Viet Nam, about 20,000 hectares of rice fields are lost to industrialisation and urbanisation each year. About 30 percent of the total rice growing area will be submerged if the sea level rises by one metre.

During the two-day event, the delegates focused on the challenges ahead as Asian countries seek to ensure the safety of new bio-products and food processing technologies.

Professor Takashi Uemura from New Zealand's Lincoln University, the conference leader, said that reports on food safety and security technologies delivered at the conference aimed to improve the lives of people around the world.

Budget reductions cut into efforts to fight HIV/AIDS

Decreasing foreign aid and the government plan to deprioritise investment for HIV/AIDS control is seen as growing concerns in the fight against the deadly disease, a government official said.

At a recent workshop in Hai Phong on HIV/AIDS control policies, Dang Thuan Phong, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee for Social Affairs, noted a decrease in foreign aid for HIV/AIDS control, as Viet Nam enters the group of middle-income countries.

He said the government was also planning to abolish the national target programme on preventing and fighting HIV/AIDS, drugs and prostitution, which meant these social problems would no longer be prioritised for investment.

Meanwhile, Viet Nam continues to raise its targets in HIV/AIDS control, with antiretroviral treatment planned for 100,000 HIV carriers, from the current 48,000 receiving treatment, and Methadone therapy for 80,000 drug users, up from the 16,000 now receiving the therapy, by the end of next year.

Phong said efforts to control HIV/AIDS have so far helped to reduce the infection rate to under 0.3 per cent of the population, and the numbers of new infections and cases of AIDS developing from HIV have likewise decreased.

Kristan Shoultz, UNAIDS Viet Nam Country Director, suggested that the country maintain current initiatives and take further drastic action to sustain the results of the past 15-year effort in HIV/AIDS control.

She said the UNAIDS's initiative on a strategic investment case for HIV aimed to determine effective tools in allocating and optimising all resources for HIV/AIDS control activities.

Participants at the workshop were also introduced to the national investment strategy on HIV/AIDS control for 2015-20.

Nguyen Hoang Long, head of the Ministry of Health's HIV/AIDS Prevention Department, Viet Nam needed to focus its efforts on expanding effective interventions, such as supplying clean injection needles, providing condoms and expanding HIV testing among the people.

Long also said highly-vulnerable areas and the most vulnerable groups should be given priority in investment, while central and local budgets for HIV/AIDS prevention should be maintained.

Promoting health insurance participation nationwide and increasing non-State investment in health services are also solutions to helping control the problem, Long added.

Health Minister inspects Ebola prevention at Tan Son Nhat airport

Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien on August 17 inspected the prevention of deadly Ebola virus disease at Tan Son Nhat International Airport, a major port of entry, in Ho Chi Minh City.

The capacity of relevant agencies at Tan Son Nhat airport was tested through a simulation during which quarantine staff members detected a passenger with fever.

Minister Tien said the airport sees the largest number of those travelling between Africa and Vietnam, and such a drill will help relevant agencies review their performance in preventing diseases and better gear up for outbreaks.

She noted that in case Ebola patients are detected, HCM City needs to swiftly draw up plans on mobile hospitals.

Meanwhile, healthcare stations near Tan Son Nhat airport such as those in Tan Binh and Binh Tan districts must have isolation sections and stand ready to receive patients, Tien added.

Nguyen Hong Tam, Deputy Director of the city’s International Health Quarantine Centre, said since August 11, his centre has monitored the body temperature of all passengers entering Vietnam.

It has also applied health declaration to those travelling through four West African countries where Ebola virus disease is raging, namely Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, he added.

Thirty three people, including one from an Ebola-affected country, have declared their state of health at Tan Son Nhat airport so far. None of them showed symptoms of the disease.

Ebola virus is caught by close contact with an infected person through bodily fluids such as sweat, blood and tissue.

The World Health Organisation on August 15 reported that 1,145 people died of the disease.

Malaysia helps Vietnamese transit workers from Libya

A group of 33 Vietnamese workers evacuating from war-torn Libya landed safely at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on August 16, receiving assistance from local staff for another flight back to Vietnam.

These Vietnamese workers departed from Tunisia’s Djerba airport on August 14 on FS 110 flight of SFAX airlines and transited at Paris-based Charles De Gaulle airport before boarding Malaysian Airlines MH21 flight on August 16.

With support from representatives of the Vietnamese Embassy, Malaysia-based overseas labour management agency, and Malaysian Airlines staff, they were provided with free meals and accommodation at the airport’s SamaSama hotel.

These labourers had been recruited by Nhat-Viet company and sent to work for ANC company of Libya following a two-year contract. However, they had to return home due to instability in this Northern American country.

The Vietnamese workers are scheduled to take an MH0752 flight to Hanoi on August 17.

Three Vietnamese drown at Japanese beach

Three Vietnamese citizens tragically drowned while swimming at a beach near Hamamatsu city, Shizuoka prefecture, Japan on August 15, according to Japan news organisation NHK.

The news organisation said that police and fire fighters received a report of the accidental drowning at the beach in the Minami district at noon on August 15.

Upon arrival police found one man lying unconscious near the beach, who was later pronounced dead. One woman was rescued, while two others (a male and female) are still unaccounted for and presumed dead.

Police and fire fighters are still searching the surrounding areas, hoping for a miracle.

Int’l seminar focuses on food safety and security

Delegates from nearly 20 countries and territories around the globe are gathering at a two-day seminar in southern Dong Nai province to discuss issues related to food safety and security in Asia.

The event is being jointly held by the Asian Food Safety and Security Association (AFSSA) and the Dong Nai Technology University on August 16-17, aiming to devise a sustainable strategy for food safety and security in the region.

AFSSA Chairman Professor Takashi Uemura said presentations and recommendations should help improve living conditions and social welfare for people across the region.

Delegates stressed the need to innovate and develop new products, upgrade food processing and post-harvest technologies and boost the food globalization process.

They proposed a number of provocative solutions to ensure food safety through bio-technology and control of diseases originating from food.

They thoughtfully worked out measures to overcome challenges and strengthen cooperation among organizations to provide safe food for people while simultaneously protecting the environment.

The delegates also raised concerns over the reduction of cultivation areas caused by the rapid urbanization resulting from the movement towards a more modern industrialized society.

According to recent statistics, Vietnamese rice farmland has been cut by about 20,000ha each year for urban and industrial projects. Moreover, a climate change scenario shows that around 30% of the country’s total rice cultivation area would be submerged due to a 1m rising sea level in the future.

Japan provides medical assistance for Vietnam

A memorandum of understanding on healthcare cooperation was signed in HCM City between representatives of HCM City-based Hospital 175, Vietnam-Japan KAGAWA medical association and Japan’s KAGAWA University.

Both sides will cooperate in training doctors, nurses, and practitioners, conducting diagnostic techniques, and giving check-ups and treatment to Japanese citizens who are working and living in HCM City and neighbouring provinces.

They plan to establish a nursing training centre in Vietnam, offering Japanese language training courses and sending nurses to Japan to work.

Eight Mong people arrested for illegally crossing to Laos

Border guard and police forces in central Ha Tinh province have detained a group of eight Mong ethnic people trying to enter Laos illegally.

The detainees, from Son La and Thanh Hoa provinces, were arrested at Cau Treo international border gate on August 15.

The group was led by Vang A Sang, born in 1969, and Vang A Trang, born in 1985.

Relevant agencies are conducting further investigations into the case.

Vietnam bans substandard pharmaceutical drugs

The Drug Administration of Vietnam (DAV) has forbidden the import of 24 various foreign drugs from dozens of companies due to inferior quality.

Most of these pharmaceutical products are produced by Indian enterprises including Umedica Laboratories, Marksans Pharma, Yeva Therapeutics, Medicines Cure, and Medley Pharmaceuticals.

This is the largest number of foreign drugs have been simultaneously prohibited to be sold on the local market.

The DAV said it is intensifying inspection and drug quality testing before authorizing  drugs to be sold on the market.

On this occasion, the Administration also stopped receiving registration dossiers of the US producer Robinson Pharma due to its extensive quality violations.

Dementia confronting Vietnam: experts

Vietnam, ranking seventh among the 10 fastest aging countries, is facing an upward trend of chronic diseases, including dementia.

Director of the Central Geriatrics Hospital Pham Thang pointed out the fact at a symposium on the diagnosis and treatment of dementia in Hanoi on August 14.

Vietnamese and foreign experts cited statistics of the World Health Organisation in 2012 as saying that there were 35.6 million people living with dementia around the world, and up to 50 – 70% of them were suffered from Alzheimer’s.

The number of dementia cases is predicted to hit 65.7 million by 2030 with 58% living in low-and middle-income countries, and reach 115.4 million and 70%, respectively by 2050.

The life quality of those having Alzheimer’s is relatively low and proportional to the state of the disease, delegates noted.

At the symposium, experts assessed the recovery of the cases while being under different therapies and suggested the use of non-medicine ones.

They also stressed the need to monitor patients’ life quality and consider this as an important criterion when assessing treatment outcome.

VINACHEM helps Laos build health clinic

Vietnam National Chemical Group (VINACHEM) handed over a health clinic to Donkeo village, Nongbouk district, Khammouane province in Laos on August 15.

Vietnam Lao Chemical and Rock Salt Limited Company (Vilachemsalt) said that the health clinic is divided into two parts: a building for patient treatment and another to provide accommodation for doctors and nurses.

The health clinic is built on the occasion of celebrating the 45th anniversary of Vietnam’s chemical industry with total investment capital of VND3.5 billion sourced from VINACHEM’s welfare fund.

It is one of buildings VINACHEM planned to support residents in Donkeo village where the group prepares for a rock salt exploitation and processing project worth over US$522 million.

Chairman of Nongbouk district People’s Committee Sinthasson Mahakhoth highly appreciated the great contribution of VINACHEM in ensuring people’s health.

He affirmed that the Lao side will create the best possible conditions for the group to implement the project on schedule, thus helping to strengthen Laos-Vietnam special friendship and comprehensive cooperation.

Japan helps HCM City generate electricity form waste

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has agreed to provideUS$3 million in non-refundable financial assistance for a waste treatment research project in Ho Chi Minh City aimed at generating electricity from aquaculture waste.

The research project will be carried out by HCM City-based National University and Kyushu University over 60 months, from April 2015 to March 2020.

US pledges more dioxin clean up assistance

The US Department of Defence is committed to assisting Vietnam in cleaning up the dioxin-contaminated environment surrounding Danang airport, said Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey.

General Dempsey, the first chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff to visit Vietnam since 1971, made the statement while on a tour of the former US air base in central Danang city, where the US two years ago began a landmark project to clean up dioxin from the site.

He expressed his satisfaction with the progress of the project, saying that it represents a concrete step to promote and implement the comprehensive partnership between the two nations.

The Vietnam-US effective cooperation in dealing with war consequences has contributed to strengthening bilateral ties and mutual understanding, as well as providing a helping hand to residents in war-torn areas, he added.

US troops once stored and mixed the defoliant Agent Orange in a dry field surrounding the former base in Danang before it was loaded onto planes to be sprayed to deny forest cover to Vietnamese fighters during the past war.

Switzerland get-together marks Vietnam National Day

The Vietnamese delegation to the United Nations, World Trade Organisation and other international agencies held a get-together in Geneva on August 16, celebrating the 69th anniversary of the August 1945 Revolution and National Day (September 2).

Like other traditional festivals, National Day is a chance for Vietnamese expatriates to show their love for the homeland.

Addressing the function, Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Trung Thanh noted that Vietnamese nationals, no matter where they live in Switzerland, from Geneva to Zurich, Bern and other areas, always look towards their homeland and will always staunchly support its quest for independence, peace and national sovereignty.

Vietnam is stepping up its international integration process comprehensively, he said, adding that it has established diplomatic and trade ties with more than 200 countries worldwide.

The Vietnamese community in Geneva is actively engaging in the UN Human Right Council’s operations, hoping to learn from international experience in promoting fundamental human rights in the country, he added.

Busy month for Vietnamese students in Hungary

August is a busy and hectic month for Overseas Vietnamese (OVs) students residing in Hungary, filled to the brim with a wide variety of interesting and exciting activities for them to enjoy.

A large number of OV students attended Vietcamp, a youth summer camp, in Medves Hangulatszallo from August 4-7, designed to unite the young Vietnamese citizens and raise their awareness and understanding about the homeland.

They had a chance to participate in numerous sports and cultural activities, such as football, water polo and folk games.

A representative group from the Vietnamese Students Association in Hungary attended a seminar in Hanoi on August 10. They said they wanted to share their experiences studying in Hungary with those who desire to pursue tertiary academic study in the country.

The Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional gathering of OVs in Hungary, takes place on August 28 at a cultural house on 1143 in capital Budapest. The event has historically always been a colourful gala affair with many special cultural activities, a special outing for Vietnamese children.

At this year’s festival, the Vietnam Embassy in Hungary plans to host a ceremony to present OV students with high academic achievement certificates of merit.

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