Family farms key to sustainability

Sustainable family farming could help solve hunger and food production problems in Viet Nam, UN food security officials said during a celebration yesterday of the 34th World Food Day in the northern province of Quang Ninh's Hong Phong Commune.

The commune, where many households farm together and women play an important role, embodied this year's theme: Family Farming: Feeding the World, Caring for the Earth. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and UN Women in Viet Nam hosted the celebration.

Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh said at the event that to successfully carry out a restructuring programme in the agricultural sector, family farming needed to play a bigger role in providing food security and nutrition.

He also defined family farming as the smallest production unit in agriculture, which is better equipped to suit specific local conditions and include female farmers than a bigger producer.

Female farmers have contributed significantly to the country's food security, and have worked hard to adapt farming techniques to better handle climate change in Viet Nam, said JongHa Bae, Viet Nam's FAO representative.

In Viet Nam and throughout the world, family farms play crucial socio-economic, environmental and cultural roles, and need to innovate to increase their effectiveness, according to the FAO.

As Viet Nam rapidly approached the Millennium Development Goals deadline, it must forge a sustainable, hunger-free future, with the help of family farmers, said FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva.

Many family farmers, especially subsistence producers, are among the 70 per cent of rural residents worldwide who lack food security.

To further celebrate World Food Day, the winners of the National Story Competition on the role of women in family farming received their awards. The commune also hosted local art performances, a cooking competition and an introduction of specialty rice varieties in the commune.

Endangered pythons released into the wild

Two rescued Burmese pythons (Python molurus) have been released in the Dong Nai Culture and Nature Reserve, according to the Cu Chi Wildlife Rescue Station in HCM City.

They had been handed over by the Binh Duong Forest Protection Division in August and were cared for at the station before being released.

The giant creatures are categorised as critically endangered in the Viet Nam Red Book.

In the last three months more than 1,400 individuals from 23 endangered species have been rescued by the station. They include moon bears, yellow-cheek crested gibbons, leopard cats, Asian small-clawed otters, pangolins, small Indian civets, grey-shanked douc langurs, oriental pied hornbills, redbreasted parakeets, common mynas, and red collared doves.

Fire kills one in HCM City house disaster

Flames engulfed a two-storey house in HCM City's Tan Phu District yesterday, killing a 37-year-old man.

The fire was said to have begun around 8am. It took local firefighters just 40 minutes to extinguish the last of the flames, but it was long enough to take a life and destroy the entire contents of the two-storey house.

The cause of the fire is unknown. The case remains under investigation.

Fishing boat found carrying explosives

Border guards of the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau seized a fishing boat found to be illegally transporting huge volumes of explosives yesterday.

The boat captain, Tran Van Dung from Nghe An province, said the explosives, including 14.3kg of TNT, were intended for fishing in the southern province of Kien Giang.

The case remains under investigation pending test results of the explosives.

Search continues for missing crew

Search and rescue operations are being carried out to find six Vietnamese sailors who went missing last Sunday, the Viet Nam News Agency reported yesterday.

Shipmates of the sailors, aged between 18 and 23, saw them jump off the Taiwanese ship they were working on, 18km off Hokkaido Island in Japan, the report said.

The body of one man was found near the coast of the Aomori Province later, but Japanese authorities have not identified him yet.

The Japanese Coast Guard also discovered three lifebuoys near the city of Mutsu in Aomori Prefecture. It was later confirmed that the lifebuoys were from the same Taiwanese ship from which the missing sailors had reportedly jumped off.

The incident is being investigated by authorities.

In another story, the body of Nguyen Van Thuong, captain of fishing boat QNg 94301 TS, was retrieved yesterday, according to the Ba Ria-Vung Tau Border Defense Force.

His body has been brought back to Vung Tau City for an autopsy.

Thuong's boat was hit by NEWTON 5, a Malaysian barge, on Sunday, around 8pm near Vung Tau.

The impact resulted in eight Vietnamese sailors falling into the sea.

Captain Thuong went missing, but the other seven managed to swim to the barge and were rescued.

New rule reduces child patient overload

Patient admissions at HCM City's two paediatrics hospitals have reduced substantially following a regulation issued by the Ministry of Health in April that aimed to reduce overloading at city-level hospitals.

As part of a broader regulation on patient transfers, the ministry has allowed city-level hospitals to send seriously ill patients back to their provincial hospitals following emergency treatment in the city.

"Treatment at local hospitals helps patients' relatives reduce costs such as accommodations and travel. Also, each child often has two or three relatives who can take care of them during their hospital stay," said Dr Nguyen Minh Tien, head of the intensive care unit at HCM City's Paediatrics Hospital No 1.

Patients who have chronic disorders or more serious illnesses are often transferred by local hospitals to city-level hospitals in emergency cases. In addition, many families in provinces continue to have more trust in treatments at city-level hospitals.

Prior to the ministry's regulation, if patients' families travelled to the city for treatment, the hospital could not turn them down if they wanted repeated treatments.

But under the new rule, genuine emergency cases sent from local hospitals are treated first at city-level hospitals and then transferred back to their hometown if further treatment can be done there.

Because of patient overloading, the Paediatrics Hospital No 1 sometimes does not have an available breathing machine for emergency cases, according to Tien.

The intensive care unit often treats patients with spinal muscular atrophy, encephalitis or those with brain damage caused by complications from hand, foot and mouth disease. These patients need to use respiratory equipment on a regular basis.

"The intensive care unit doctors had to wait 12 hours one time to have a machine for a patient with severe dengue fever. Luckily, he was OK," he said.

Patients who only needed breathing machines should be transferred back to their provincial hospitals because they had the machines as well, Tien said, adding that the skills of doctors at provincial hospitals had improved in recent years.

Dr Tang Chi Thuong, deputy head of the city's Department of Health, said the ministry regulation had created a legal basis for city-level hospitals to transfer patients to local hospitals for permanent treatment.

"Provincial and city hospitals and patients have benefited from this," Thuong said.

For example, a two-year-old boy who suffered from a rare congenital cardiovascular disorder had to have surgery and then use a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure machine at Paediatrics Hospital No 1.

After treatment, the hospital doctors sent information on the boy's treatment regimen and disease history to the Hospital for Obstetrics and Paediatrics in the Mekong Delta province of Ca Mau.

"He has now recovered and no longer needs the breathing machine," said Dr Le Mong Thuy of Ca Mau Hospital.

In addition, doctors at the provincial hospitals speak with their city counterparts regularly about patients' treatment.

In another case, a six-year-old boy from the Mekong Delta Province of An Giang was transferred to the local Paediatrics Hospital after complications from hand, foot and mouth disease in September 2011. He needed to use a breathing machine only.

"The boy is better and uses a breathing machine one hour each night," said Duong Thanh Long, deputy head of the An Giang Paediatrics Hospital, adding that "his parents now trust his hospital's doctor."

Tien of HCM City's Paediatrics Hospital No 1 said the boy would not have recovered as quickly if he had remained in HCM City.

As for other transferrals, the Dong Nai Paediatrics Hospital admitted 343 children with nephrotic syndrome and 248 with thalassemia after they were treated initially at Paediatrics Hospital No 2 in HCM City.

Dr Le Tan Ky Phi of Phu Yen Province's Obstetrics and Paediatrics Hospital said he supported the patient transfer but pointed out that it was difficult to persuade parents to trust local hospitals.

Thuong said that it was important that city doctors explain the benefits of getting treatment in their locality or province.

"The (local) hospitals will also get more experience by doing this," Thuong said, adding that it would enhance the provincial hospitals' reputations as well.

VN stores destroyed in Kazan market fire

A large fire broke out at the Ba Coi market in Kazan, the capital city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, on Monday. Almost all of the Vietnamese owned stores have been destroyed and the fire still rages.

Andrey Rodygin from Tatarstan's Ministry of Emergency Situations said the 1,000sq.m market was rapidly engulfed in flames.

According to initial reports, the property damage amounts to tens of millions of Russian Rouble.

So far, no casualties have been reported.

Russian officials said an investigation would be conducted once the fire is contained.

12 held for drug trafficking

The city police praised the Division for Investigation of Drug-related Crimes in the northern Hai Phong city yesterday for seizing more than 2kg of methamphetamine in two consecutive drug busts.

On October 7, Pham Thi T, 33, was caught in the act of selling 22.3gm of drugs to Nguyen Van H, 25, from the neighbouring province of Quang Ninh.

Further investigations led to the arrest of nine other persons on the same day. Police also seized more than 1kg of drugs, two digital weighing scales, a motorbike and VND1.3 million (US$63) in cash.

A day later, Nguyen Thi H from Quang Ninh was caught while she was illegally transporting 1.3kg of methamphetamine. A digital weighing scale, two mobile phones and VND 271.5 million (US$13,000) in cash were seized from her possession.

The case is being investigated further.

Vietnamese students took home three silver and seven bronze medals at the 11th International Mathematics and Science Olympiad (IMSO) held recently in Indonesia.

This was the first time Vietnam had sent a team to the IMSO, which is an annual competition in maths and science for less-than-13 year-old students.

The Vietnamese team included 12 students from the Hanoi-based Giang Vo Secondary School.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, the participation in the contest would help Vietnamese students get more experience in studying integrated sciences.

The 11th IMSO drew representatives from 14 countries and territories.

World Food Day marked in Quang Ninh

The 34th World Food Day and FAO’s 69th founding anniversary were celebrated on October 14 in Dong Trieu district, northern Quang Ninh province.

The event was co-hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) the Quang Ninh provincial People’s Committee and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

This year’s World Food Day themed “Family farming: feeding the world, caring for the earth” is of great significance to Vietnam since the country’s 10 million farming households with 30 million laborers, or 70% of the workforce, contributed only 20% of the national GDP.

According to MARD Deputy Le Quoc Doanh, the Government is carrying out an agriculture restructuring programme to help farmers increase their incomes, with a major focus on applying scientific-technological approaches and restructuring production, including the provision of preferential loans and investments in education and scientific research.

FAO Representative in Vietnam Jong-Ha Bae said in Vietnam and many countries all over the world, farming households’ role in economics, society, culture and the environment is decisive and needs to be enhanced through renovations.

On the occasion, the UN Women Country Representative in Vietnam, Shoko Ishikawa, presented prizes to the winners of the national writing competition “Woman’s role in family farming cultivation".

Education UK Day 2014 opens in Danang

Education UK Day 2014 was held by the British Council on October 14 in the central city of Danang, offering the chance for parents and students to learn about study in the United Kingdom.

Training programmes in Vietnam to get UK certificates and 99 scholarships for various levels were introduced at the event.

The alumni shared with future UK-bound students their valuable experiences in building a successful career, starting with the right choice of what to study from undergraduate levels.

A number of seminars were held to introduce to participants a world of study options in the UK, the process to apply for a student’s visa, and tips to achieve a high score on the IELTS.

EROPA 2014 to promote formation of ASEAN community

The 60th meeting and conference of the Eastern Regional Organization for Public Administration (EROPA) is to take place in Hanoi from October 19-24, announced the National Academy of Public Administration at a press conference on October 14.

Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Tran Anh Tuan, head of the Steering Committee for EROPA said  the conference themed “Public Administration and Governance in the Context of Regional and Global Integration” is of great significance given the South East Asian region aims to build an ASEAN community of solidarity, dynamism and prosperity by 2015.

He added EROPA members are expected to discuss the demand for renovating research work and implementing public administration and governance in the Asia-Pacific region.

EROPA is the first organization in the Asia-Pacific region which has been formed with the aim of developing a public administration and promoting socio-economic development in the region. This is also a forum for policy makers to exchange information and new initiatives towards an efficient and transparent public administration.

EROPA now has 10 members at the state level and 50 members that are institutes, public administration academies and universities, and 229 individual members.

New Tokyo Vietnam Medical University green light

Plans for a new Tokyo Vietnam Medical University in Hung Yen province to be funded with Japanese foreign direct investment have been given the green light by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

Now that the initial agreement for the project has been approved, the Ministry of Education and Training will work to coordinate relevant agenciesand proceed with construction.

The new university, principally funded by the Japanese Waseda Health Sciences Education Corporation,upon completion will provide a four-year university programme in many medical areas such as rehabilitation nursing, physical therapy, orthotics and prosthetics.

Construction of the university should be completed within a two year time frame and it is expected to create good paying jobs for an academic staff of 80.

Kien Giang provides shelter for low income households

The southern province of Kien Giang has completed the construction of nearly 10,430 houses for financially disadvantaged households, fulfilling 98.7 percent of the Government target.

The houses were built at a total cost of VND205 billion (US$9.8 million), funded by the State budget, the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies. As many as 132 houses have not yet been completed due to a shortage of loans.

72 communes and three districts in the province met their targets for building houses for disadvantaged households. Therefore, the majority of people living in remote areas have a safe roof over their head, providing them the chance to focus on improving their livelihoods.

A variety of campaigns such as “Day for the Poor” and social security programmes have been organised throughout the province to mobilise public support for building houses for needy families and individuals. Kien Giang province plans to build over 5,000 houses for the poor by 2019.

The province is implementing six housing projects with a total investment of VND450 billion (US$21.4 million), providing shelter for nearly 1,400 low income households.

Winners of story competition on women revealed

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) announced winners of a story competition to spotlight the important role that women play in family farming in Vietnam, UN Women said on October 13.

The first prize went to the article “Vo chong Ly A Sui” (Ly A Sui and his wife) by reporter Tran Thi Minh at the Fansipan Magazine.

Journalist Pham Thi Que Ha from Quang Nam province’s Arts and Literature Association secured the second prize with “Soi da cung thanh com” (Even rocks are turned into rice).

Meanwhile, the third winner was Le Quang Hoi, Quan doi Nhan dan (People’s Army) newspaper’s correspondent in Gia Lai province, with “Nu gia lang buoc qua loi nguyen” (The matriarch who overcomes the curse).

Two consolidation prizes belonged to a student at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities and a teacher at the Gia Lai Secondary School.

Launched in July 2014, the national competition on “The Role of Vietnamese Women in Family Farming” was carried out by the UN Women and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

It was part of the year-long UN campaign “Empowering Women – Empowering Humanity”.

The number of hand-foot-mouth cases has been on the rise since early this month though the incidence of this infectious disease normally peaks in November, said Nguyen Tri Dung, director of the HCMC Preventive Medicine Center.

In a recent review meeting on the disease incidence in the city, statistics of the center showed some 4,700 patients have been hospitalized over the past eight months, up 19% year-on-year.

Hand-foot-mouth cases shot up last week in District 6, Binh Chanh, Go Vap and Tan Binh districts. According to hospitals in such districts, the number of patients has doubled over the past six weeks.

Dung explained the incidence of the disease had suddenly surged because the second peak season of the disease is approaching. Parents have also grown more vigilant and taken their children to hospital earlier since the media reported on the death of an 8-month-old infected with the disease.

The number of children infected or showing signs of illness is still high with 20 -30 kids admitted to Children’s Hospital 2 a day. Meanwhile at Children’s Hospital 1, the number is between 30 and 40 children coming for examination, diagnosis and monitoring, including those from other provinces.

Truong Huu Khanh of Children’s Hospital 1 said the disease occurs throughout the year, especially at the beginning of school year.

According to infection specialists, patients infected with this disease can recover within one week by taking medicine and being monitored at home.

Symptoms include fever, fatigue, loss of appetite and sore throat. Ulcers may appear in the mouth, tongue and gums. There may be rash in the palm, sole of the foot, buttock or genital.

Severe cases developing complications may affect the nerves and respiratory system, and cause death.

Apart from hand-foot-mouth cases, dengue fever is on the rise in HCMC with five fatalities reported since the beginning of this year. The number of hospitalized cases in the last two weeks of September rose significantly though the eight-month statistics were normal.

Dengue fever cases in district 2, 8 and 7 more than doubled compared to average levels.

Healthcare for pets

Since the days of old, it has been widely agreed that appearance counts as much as the inner health, as goes a Vietnamese saying that “the tooth and the hair are the roots of human beings.” This is now also true to pet lovers, who consider the tooth and the hair of their loveable animals as important as their health.

Formerly, pets, especially dogs and cats, were taken to the veterinarian only when their health got worse. Now, more and more people want to bring intensive care to their furry friends. Many kinds of services dedicated to pet dogs are now flourishing in HCMC due to the rising demand.

Currently, there are over 100 hospitals, hotels, spa, fitness and pet care centers in HCMC for animals with services from affordable to luxury ones. One can spend from tens of thousands of dong to millions to cater for the health and beauty of their pets.

Besides traditional veterinary centers, medical facilities for pets are now equipped with modern machines for treatment. These centers also provide beauty services such as cosmetic surgery, tattoos, nail polish, skincare, bathing, fur brushing and trimming, dental care and so on.

Ngo Quoc Hung, chief doctor of veterinary medicine in New Pet Hospital located in District 1, says pets need to get regular health checks just like humans, especially dental examination. Dental problems can affect pets’ health as serious as any kind of dangerous diseases.

Pets suffering from gum diseases, for instance, will have a fever, loss of appetite, affecting digestion and respiration, Hung explains.

According to the American Veterinary Dental Society, more than 80% of dogs and 70% of cats show dental disease by the age of three, which may cause damaging consequences to their health.

Some pets are brought to hospital to have their teeth filed like rabbits or dogs. Meanwhile, others come for common dental problems include tartar, decay and skew teeth.

In general, pets are recommended to have regular dental cleaning such as tartar removal and polishing. Moreover, they can use supplement foods or fake bones to strengthen their teeth, suggests doctor Lan Phuong from Modern Pet Hospital in District 7.

Regarding serious dental illnesses, pets will also need clinical diagnosis before surgery like humans. Blood work, overall health check and radiograph, or x-ray, will be required. Depending on the weight, age and gender of pets, doctors will prescribe an appropriate amount of anesthetic and suitable surgical options.

Besides health, the pet’s appearance is also a concern for owners. Skincare and grooming are two basic steps in beauty care. After the pores are cleaned by machine to prevent skin inflammation, the pet hair will be styled according catalogue or owners’ taste.

Most of doctors and veterinary staff in Vietnam have to manage to study about beauty services for pets through foreign experts, websites, magazines and pet care centers because there is no formal training on this subject in the country.

Ministry gathers ideas for future poverty standards

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs collected ideas from organisations and individuals for a set of multi-dimensional poverty standards that will be applied from 2016 to 2020, said Minister Pham Thi Hai Chuyen.

Chuyen, speaking to audience on the weekly Viet Nam Television programme " Citizens ask – Ministers Answer" on Sunday, said the statistic used to define who is poor – income – has become unsuitable for Viet Nam. She said she expected the new poverty standards, based on multiple assessment criterion such as access to health care and education, to better classify and support poor citizens.

Answering a question about the differences between policies that support poor households and near-poor households, Chuyen said there was little difference between the two.

In rural areas, people who made about VND400,000 (US$19) per month were listed as poor, while people who made VND420,000 to 450,000 (US$19.5 to $21) were listed as near poor.

The Government would work on creating more policies to support both, she said. At last month's Government meeting, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung ordered authorised agencies to make reducing poverty in mountainous and remote areas a high priority, Chuyen said.

A resident living in central Nghe An Province asked the minister about his village, where there were 40 poor households, about 40 percent of the population there. But only 12 households were listed as poor, because the commune set the quota for poor households at 12 per cent.

Chuyen said the commune's behaviour was contrary to State and Party policies. Regulations stated that poor households could make up 30 to 40 per cent of a community.

She ordered districts to check the communes' lists of poor residents to make sure they were correct.

Can Tho makes evacuation plans

More than 1,000 people living in areas prone to landslides would be evacuated from the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho by the end of next year, according to local authorities.

The city plans to evacuate 1,500 more people from high-risk areas by 2020, and plans to relocate all residents from landslide-prone areas by 2030.

Hundreds of areas in the city are at risk from landslides at the moment, particularly along the Tra Noc, Binh Thuy, Cam and Can Tho rivers.

Deputy head of the city's Natural Disaster Prevention and Control Department, Pham Van Quynh, said landslides along rivers in the districts of Binh Thuy, Cai Rang, Phong Dien and Thot Not had been occurring since 2012, causing losses of hundreds of millions of dong while threatening the lives of local residents.

In Tra An Ward, landslides had destroyed a 60m stretch of the river bank and caused five houses to collapse into the river, he said.

Last year, a landslide at a road leading to Tra Nien Bridge across the Can Tho River in Phong Dien District killed two people and destroyed four houses.

The city was building 30 resettlement areas for local people in danger zones, prioritising those living near and along rivers and channels, according to the provincial Department of Construction.

The city plans to build embankments to prevent landslides along rivers and channels, and has allocated more than VND1 trillion (US$47.2 million) in Government bonds to build an embankment along the Can Tho River.

Guards in the dock for trade centre fire

Police of the northern province of Hai Duong have decided to charge three security guards for negligence in a fire last year that destroyed VND500 billion (US$23.8 million) in property at Hai Duong Trade Centre.

Nguyen Van Tai, Nguyen Van Tinh and Do Hong Quan were on duty when the huge blaze took place at the four-storey centre in last September. They will be prosecuted for lacking responsibility to cause serious consequences following the Penal Code.

According to the police investigation, Tai was in charge of security and fire prevention at the centre beginning 2 a.m. on that day. But Tai spent his time on duty playing cards with three other people, thereby failing to detect the fire in time and prevent it from spreading.

Tinh was head of the security team at the centre and in charge of assigning and reminding guards on duty of their tasks during the shift. He failed to assign a sufficient number of security guards at the centre and failed to remind Tai and his partner to go on rounds, so they failed to detect the fire.

Quan was a member of the centre's water and electricity team and tasked to ensure the safety of the centre's electricity system on that day. However, he did not carry out a full inspection and failed to detect the leakage in electricity that sparked the fire.

Under Article 285 of the Penal Code, persons found guilty of negligence resulting in serious consequences could be sentenced to from six months to 12 years in prison and suspended from their positions for one to three years, depending on the level of seriousness of their violation.

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