Medical centres sub-standard

Forty per cent of commune-level medical centres in Viet Nam have failed to meet national criteria for qualified grassroots healthcare, the Health Ministry has reported.

These medical centres are located in poor and remote areas where residents typically rely on the health services in their communities as their only method of treatment.

To meet national criteria, a commune-level medical centre must successfully build a combined model of treatment and disease prevention, and provide healthcare services to patients via insurance payments, the report said last week.

The healthcare system in Viet Nam is divided into four levels: central, provincial, district and grassroots. Grassroots health care covers commune, wards and hamlets, and it plays an important role in detecting the early signs of epidemics.

The report said there are still many problems at the commune-level health centres that need to be resolved, such as professional health-staff shortages and a lack of investment in infrastructure and facilities required for first aid and basic diagnosis.

Hoa Phu Commune health centre, located in the Tuyen Quang northern mountainous province's Chiem Hoa District, is comprised of two rows of wooden houses with metal roofs. The facilities were built in 1987, and most of the equipment at the centre is out-of-date and broken.

The centre's chief, Dr. Ha Thi Diep, said the buildings have been ravaged by heavy storms, which have damaged the roofs and walls.

The centre has one doctor, four nurses and a medicine supplier who treat about 10,000 patients a year. The only modern devices it owns are an electronic acupuncture machine and aerosol equipment, and it hasn't received new equipment for five years, Dr. Diep said.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said last week that the ministry had mobilised various financial sources to improve both infrastructure and staffing at grassroots health centres, but its implementation had been more difficult.

The ministry was planning a draft of grassroots health development projects supported by the World Bank, the minister said . 

Master plan on southeast region’s culture development announced

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism organised a conference in the southern province of Dong Nai on October 9 to announce a master plan on developing culture, family, sports and tourism in the southeastern region by 2020.

A ministry representative said the master plan aims to make full use of the potential of the resources and technical infrastructure in the region. It will create a driving force for the development of culture, family, physical exercise, and tourism. 

The plan is also to strengthen regional linkages based on the advantages of each - and to reinforce cooperation with ASEAN countries to accelerate the development of regional culture, sports and tourism, he added. 

Government Decision No. 1400/QD-TTg dated August 18 indicates that HCM City is the nation's main centre for culture, arts, scientific research and human resources training and the development of the East-West cultural axis will boost cooperation in culture and arts among regional provinces.

By the year 2020, the southeastern region is expected to welcome more than 6 million international visitors and about 34 million locals, earning up to 170 trillion VND (7.6 billion USD) from tourism services, and create jobs for more than 200,000 labourers.

Samsung expands Samsung Smart School model in Vietnam

The Republic of Korea’s Samsung has given a smart classroom, equipped with its Samsung Smart School solutions, to Hanoi’s Tran Phu high school.

The equipment costs approximately VND1 billion (US$47,000). This is the second school to which Samsung gave the Samsung Smart School solutions. The first one is the Hoang Hoa Tham primary school also in Hanoi in 2013.

“The use of high tech in education helps young Vietnamese not fall behind in technology, and help them fully realise their learning potential,” said Pham Duc Doanh, principal of the Tran Phu high school, affirming that the school is honoured to receive this model and thanks Samsung for its social contribution in Vietnam.

“This model will help realise Vietnam’s dream of high-tech education and should be used more commonly in the country,” said Nguyen Huu Do, director of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training, at the ceremony.

Samsung Smart School consists of Interactive Teaching and Learning Management solutions. Interactive Teaching allows teachers to bring the material and tasks to each student through the connection between the interactive white board and individual tablets. Through this means, students can also send questions to teachers and vote for something, and teachers can also track the progress of each student and manage the whole class through the Learning management feature. 

Combining the use of digital equipment and multimedia content, Samsung Smart School fosters interaction during the process of transferring and receiving knowledge. It raises the effectiveness of teaching and helps students actively engage in the teaching material and raise their independence and creativity in searching for and retaining knowledge. Samsung Smart School has been deployed in some schools in the US, the Middle East, Europe and Asia.

Samsung currently has three production complexes in Vietnam, namely Samsung Electronics Vietnam (SEV) in the northern province of Bac Ninh, Samsung Electronics Vietnam Thai Nguyen (SEVT) in the northern province of Thai Nguyen and Samsung Electronics Ho Chi Minh City Complex (SEHC) in Ho Chi Minh City.

Japan supports Mekong Delta’s medical sector

In addition to cooperation in agriculture, many Japanese enterprises have been keen on medical cooperation with Vietnam’s Mekong River provinces. This has the potential to significantly improve the quality of healthcare in the region. 

Dao Anh Dung, Vice Chairman of Can Tho City’s People’s Committee, said that although Can Tho has two large general hospitals and several specialized hospitals, their equipment for diagnosis and treatment are poor, so Can Tho’s medical sector desperately needs support from developed countries like Japan.

Dung underlined the need “of high-tech medical equipment. Can Tho has many hospitals but only two hospitals in the city have magnetic resonance imaging scanners. Japan’s support will help meet the healthcare needs of Can Tho’s citizens and others who live in the Mekong River Delta.”

At a recent working session with the Steering Committee for the Southwestern Region, Narazaki Mikio, President of the Japan International Human Resources Development Association, expressed an interest in cooperating with Mekong River provinces in healthcare.

Mikio said his association mainly helps developing countries improve local living standards and healthcare. Equipment provided by the association has greatly improved the diagnosis and treatment of patients.

Mikio said that “I myself am a doctor. Like programs we have implemented in Laos and Cambodia, we’ve analyzed the water Vietnamese people drink and given them water filters to protect their health. The filtering machines are leased, not sold.”

Nguyen Phong Quang, Deputy Head of the committee, said Mekong River provinces have partnered with Japan in agriculture and health care.

Quang, who is also president of the Southwestern region’s Association for Poor Patients, said that “the Southwestern region’s Association for Poor Patients can cooperate with the Japan International Human Resources Development Association in several fields to ensure that disadvantaged people, particularly children, receive needed medical diagnosis and treatment. We’ve made a list and scheduled surgeries for 1,000 patients with cardiovascular disease.”

Mikio said his association is ready to help Vietnam’s public health sector by supplying modern medical equipment and training people to use it, adding that “the more machines like MRI or CT scanners you have, the better patient treatment will be. In the future, we’ll deliver many kinds of high-tech medical equipment to Vietnamese hospitals to make their diagnoses more accurate.”

VN eyes better reservoir management

Viet Nam must improve the management of its numerous reservoirs to protect the rights and interests of residents in the downstream areas, and to optimise the efficiency of its water management and hydropower projects, experts said during a conference on the subject last week.

Experts said the effects of climate change and natural disasters are becoming more unpredictable, while an insufficient number of weather stations in upstream areas has resulted in inaccurate weather forecasts. This is particularly dangerous during the rainy season because reservoirs may release water into areas already affected by floods.

Numerous reservoirs were designed and constructed to optimise the operation of hydropower projects. However, experts said operations to prevent and reduce flooding, and to maintain the water supply for downstream regions, have not been properly studied and reinforced.

Dr. Nguyen Lan Chau from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) said the management of reservoirs should also encompass the collection of weather statistics, rather than depending on information provided by weather forecast agencies.

Chau said having dedicated weather stations would allow managers to be proactive in their operations and reduce error rates.

Experts stressed the need to build a more comprehensive reservoir management system that prioritises structural safety, efforts to reduce adverse effects of flooding, and initiatives to maintain the water supply in downstream areas and optimise power output for hydro power projects.

Last year, the central city of Da Nang threatened to sue the MONRE and the Dak Mi 4 Hydropower project unless changes were made to its reservoir management and operation model.

Huynh Van Thang, deputy director of the city's department of agriculture, told VnExpress that the hydropower project significantly reduced the amount of water on the Vu Gia River, affecting about 1.7 million residents in Dai Loc, Dien Ban, Hoi An and Da Nang.

Thang said the rights and daily lives of millions in downstream regions must be prioritised over power-generating projects upstream.

Just last week, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung approved the management model and operations for reservoirs in the Vu Gia-Thu Bon river basin. The model outlined priorities for reservoir management during the rainy season - September 1 to December 12 - which include reservoirs' safety, anti-flooding operations for downstream regions and hydroelectric power. 

Farmers ignore long-term sugar palm value

Agricultural experts are concerned about the sale of thot not or sugar palm (Palmyra) trees in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of An Giang to landscapers.

It takes from 12 to 16 years for sugar palm trees to grow to full height. They can only be harvested after 20 years, but can produce juice for about 55 years, so farmers should keep the trees for long-term economic benefits.

Over the past month, many traders have visited the mountain districts of Tri Ton and Tinh Bien to buy sugar palm trees, Tin tuc (News) reported.

Local authorities said they knew about the situation but faced obstacles in dealing with the trading of sugar palm trees as they were not on the list of the Government's endangered species.

Tran Anh Thu, director of An Giang Province's Agriculture and Rural Development, said about 190 trees had been sold with prices ranging from VND250,000 (US$11) to 500,000 ($22.5) per tree aged from 10 to 20 years.

Inspections revealed that brokers had been negotiating for the purchase of 6,000 sugar palms with heights of between four and six metres.The trees are resold to parks and resorts in northern provinces.

Nguyen Van Hoa, director of the Southern Fruit Research Institute, said sugar palms were a part of the Khmer community.

He said the mass sale of the trees would affect the landscape and culture of the entire region.

Thu, director of An Giang province's Agriculture and Rural Development, said the trees helped eradicate poverty.

Chau Khen, a resident from Tri Ton District's Chau Lang Commune, said although sugar palms did not create high economic benefits, they created a stable income.

With 27 palm trees, his family produced 20kg of palm sugar a day, earning VND320,000 per day, he said.

"Many villagers have sold palm trees after receiving offers from traders, but my family will never sell them", Khen said, adding that the money gained after selling the trees were just enough for his family in three months while the income from palm sugar making lasted from year to year.

An Giang Province now has about 65,000 sugar palm trees, concentrated in Tri Ton and Tinh Bien.

People can also use the leaves to make handicrafts apart from tapping the sap collected from palm flowers.

According to manufacturers in An Giang Province, the quantity of sap collected from the inflorescence of sugar palm trees presently does not meet demand.

This could eventually affect the lives of 5,000 labourers engaged in production. Of these, 75 per cent are of Khmer ethnicity.

Thu said the Agriculture and Rural Development Department proposed the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to include sugar palm trees in the list of endangered species. 

Agriculture insurance vital to mitigate risks

Agricultural insurance will not only help farmers cope with natural disasters, storms, floods, epidemics, but also contribute to a new rural development programme, officials said.

Le Duc Thinh, Deputy Director of the Department of Co-operatives and Rural Development under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, talked about the importance of risk management in agriculture through insurance at a workshop on Thursday.

He also said that the development of public-private partnership was a good way to bring about efficiency for agricultural insurance in Viet Nam. Farmers joining the programme was the most important thing, he said.

Although the agricultural sector has contributed to fighting poverty, improving food security and social stability, it was at risk to natural disasters like floods, droughts and epidemics.

Viet Nam has no clear framework on public-private agricultural insurance and a shortage of independent agencies to implement policies. This is why there are a lot of risks to implementing agricultural insurance, according to Thinh.

Reports from the Ministry of Finance say there are lots of obstacles to implementing agricultural insurance due to a large number of members and extremely wide coverage.

In addition, the claim process is slow. Many shrimp farmers had to wait for almost one year to get insurance payouts. Agricultural production has risks, therefore very few insurance companies invest in this sector.

Bui Thanh Hai, from Insurance supervision Authority under the Ministry of Finance, said 304,017 households and organisations in the agricultural sector had purchased insurance.

The total insured value was estimated at VND7.7 trillion (US$346 million) and the amount of agriculture insurance claim was at VND712 billion ($32 million).

The revenue collecting from insurance fees is about VND394 billion ($17.7 million) annually.

According to the Viet Nam Coffee and Cocoa Association, coffee output reduced by 30 per cent and 17 per cent on export value compared with the same period last year.

The reduction of coffee output was blamed on droughts and cold weather.

If they had agricultural insurance coffee growers who suffered losses would receive full compensation.

Tran Cong Thang, deputy director of the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development, said the project focused on reviewing the current Vietnamese agricultural insurance situation. Based on analysis, the project would make proposals on strengthening instituational capacities of related agencies on legal framework and design a public-private insurance model to cover weather risks in coffee production in Dak Lak and Lam Dong provinces.

Thang said agricultural insurance hadn't succeeded in the country due to a lack of co-operation between the state, insurance company and farmers.

The project,which began in July 2013 and finished in November this year, is sponsored by Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID).

Recognising the importance of insurance to farmers, Thinh said, the Ministry of Finance had proposed the Prime Minister continue the implementation of pilot agriculture insurance programmes for rice and animals at all localities after the project finishes. 

Banana growers suffer as prices continue to fall

Many farmers in the central province of Quang Tri are struggling to make ends meet as banana prices fell to their lowest price of the season this week.

Before April, one kilogramme of bananas sold for VND5,000-10,000 (20-40 US cents) – a steady, adequate price for Le Canh Tuan, a banana grower in Bich La Dong Hamlet.

Since April, prices have fallen to VND2,000-3,000 (9-10 cents) per kilogramme, as Chinese traders, a major part of the farmers' incomes, stopped buying bananas, according to the Lao Dong (Labour) newspaper. But prices plunged even lower in the first week of October, to their lowest point to date – VND1,800 (8 cents) per kilogramme.

"Never before has the price of bananas dropped to such an awfully low level," Tuan said. "Nearly half a month ago, bananas were sold so cheap that we had to delay harvesting. But until now, the price hasn't seemed to rise."

Le Hong Khanh owns eight hectares of banana trees in Nai Cuu hamlet, Tan Thanh commune. In recent days, Khanh hasn't been able to sell his crap to local buyers.

"People only buy beautiful bunches of bananas for worship – no one will buy the rest," Khanh said. "If this situation continues, we don't know how we'll earn our living."

Tan Long Market in Huong Hoa District's Tan Long Commune, located on National Road 9, used to draw a large amount of banana traders. But these days, very few traders and trucks carrying bananas gather there.

"In this village alone, about 150ha of bananas are being harvested," said Le Canh Hao, chief of Bich La Dong Hamlet. "On these days, many unsold bananas pile up in heaps. People in this area will be in danger if this situation lasts longer, as all farmers have focused mainly on growing bananas."

Vo Thanh, chairman of Huong Hoa People's Committee, said a factory will eventually start buying all the unsold bananas for processing, but it was still under construction.

"At present, banana sales depend entirely on the Chinese and Thai markets," Thanh said. "Only a few of bananas are sold domestically, so the prices are unpredictable."

Since Chinese traders no longer bought bananas in Quang Tri, local sellers began to export their produce to Thailand through Laos. Laos had imposed high unofficial taxes on bananas.

Le Thi Thu Dieu, a banana trader, said Laos customs officials asked her to pay VND2.7 million ($121.60) for one tonne of bananas.

"I bought one tonne of bananas from farmers at about VND2 million ($90). If I have to pay VND2.7 million in taxes, how can I make any profit?" Dieu said, adding that she had to stop trading bananas until Laos lowered the tax rate.

Tran Tuan Anh, commander-in-chief of the Lao Bao Border Post, said the post worked on Wednesday with Laos police and authorities on the tax issue. After the meeting, Laos customs officials have started collecting lower taxes from Vietnamese traders. This allowed some Vietnamese traders to reopen their stalls and buy bananas from farmers. But prices remain low, at VND1,700-1,800 (7-8 cents) per kilogramme. 

Dak Lak hospitals polluting with dangerous discharge

The environment in the Dak Lak central highland province is still at risk from pollution due to discharges from local hospitals.

The province now has 24 hospitals, four of which are private, providing more than 4,400 beds, according to a report byTai Nguyen and Moi Truong (Resources and Environment) newspaper.

According to the report, the total medical waste being discharged from the hospitals in the province is estimated at nearly one tonne of hazardous medical waste, and another 4.5 tonnes of normal waste, each day.

Twenty hospitals under the provincial Health Department have been equipped with waste treatment systems, but four others do not have such equipment.

But the work of handling waste has not been entirely successful, as expected, causing environmental pollution.

Many incinerators at hospitals have been damaged, or overloaded, leading to numerous incidents during the incineration process.

An incident, for instance, occurred in a general hospital in Krong Nang district recently.

Trouble in the operation of the waste treatment system in the hospital caused smoke, dust, and odors to affect the area's residents.

The households located around the hospital sent complaints to authorities to deal with the problem.

The hospital attempted to handle this, but there were fears it would recur due to the damaged equipment, the hospital's director, Tran Ngoc Anh, was quoted as saying.

There are also concerns about increasing pollution from all hospitals located in densely populated areas, as well as waste treatment systems located in the area of hospitals, according to the report.

Meanwhile, the ability to manage medical waste and the environmental protection of medical staff is still limited.

According to the provincial Preventive Health Centre, medical waste, such as needles or glass medicine bottles, have not been completely treated due to the low technology of waste treatment systems.

Untreated medical waste is sometimes buried in or near hospitals.

In addition, systems to deal with liquid waste have not been fully installed in hospitals, causing serious environmental pollution.

Hospital officials have blamed shortages of funds for the failure in environmental prevention.

Moreover, dissemination, education to the public on laws related to medical waste management, and environmental protection have not been improved.

Last year, seven hospitals were fined due to violations in the management of medical waste.

The report said the hospitals want more support from the Health Department in upgrading infrastructure and supplying and training hospital staffs, and advanced technology to handle the current shortcomings.

But so far, they have not received special attention from the provincial health sector. 

Old brick kilns damaging environment in Bac Kan

Nearly 80 old brick kilns have caused serious environmental pollution in the northern province of Bac Kan, but many obstacles stand in the way of eliminating them, local authorities said.

Phieng My Village in Huyen Tung Ward in Bac Kan City has only 15 households, but those households operate eight brick kilns at all hours of the day and night.

A Vietnam News Agency correspondent reported that smoke released from the kilns caused issues, and roads have become seriously damaged by overloaded automobiles that transport bricks through the village.

The village has 1ha of land for growing rice, but the low quality of the land has rendered it an unsuccessful crop. The remaining 40ha of land in the village is suitable for manufacturing bricks, and brick kilns have been built over the past 10 years.

Tran Thi Cu, a resident in the village, said she has made bricks for 10 years. She used to go to China with hopes of finding a better job, but she did not succeed, so she returned to her hometown to continue making bricks.

"I know the work is harmful for health, but I need to earn my living," said Cu.

Luu Quang Doan, head of the village, said most of the local residents earned their living by working at brick kilns.

It takes a brick kiln 20 to 30 days to produce a batch of products, but the kilns do not have a system to curb smoke.

Poisonous smoke was released into the air affecting residents' health. Many kilns are too old and can cause accidents for workers, said Doan.

Although the kilns are harmful, they have brought a stable income to many households in the village in recent years and have created jobs for hundreds of people, so it is difficult to eliminate them, he said.

On May 25, 2012, the Bac Kan People's Committee released a decision banning old-style brick kilns in residential areas in the province beginning January 1, 2015.

The kilns will be banned in all areas of Bac Kan City at the beginning of 2018, and they will be banned across the province beginning in 2020.

This decision worried owners of the brick kilns.

Ta Van Ly, one of the owners, said he needed nearly VND10 billion (US$444,400) to convert an old brick kiln into a tunnel kiln, which is a large sum of money for him.

Ly hoped that local authorities would extend the deadline for building tunnel brick kilns and provide financial support to the farmers.

Hoang Thi Thuy, deputy director of the Bac Kan Department of Construction, said that eliminating old-style brick kilns in the province created new challenges because it directly affected residents' livelihoods.

The province would provide consultancy on changing jobs, training for new jobs and set up policies of financial support for owners of old-style brick kilns, said Thuy. 

Fund to help student to start up business

A fund to help students to start up their business has officially operated in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue.

The fund aims to support students who are studying in universities and colleges in the province but want to earn money in their free time and unemployed graduates who want to start up a business yet they do not have enough money to do.

Each student must submit their ideas of business to the fund. If the business plan is feasible, the fund will support VND5-10 million (US$225-451) to them. These students must refund the sum to the fund and they must extract 10 percent of their total profits to develop the fund in 4 years later.

548 Vietnamese students join International Mathematical Competition

The 2015 International Mathematical Competition between cities of Vietnam and Russia took place in Hanoi on October 11.

548 Vietnamese students from 11 secondary schools and 13 high schools across eight provinces of Hanoi, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Phu Tho, Thanh Hoa, Nam Dinh, Hai Duong and Hai Phong registered for participating in the competition.

The organizers said the 2015 contest attracted the most crowded Vietnamese students.

Hanoi National University of Education in collaboration with the organization board of the International Mathematical Competition in Russia organized in the International Mathematical Competition.

Exam questions were compiled by the organization board in Russia; and answer papers will be corrected and sent to the organization board in Russia.

The students with high scores will be received certificates by Russian Academy of Sciences.

Hanoi needs to tackle chaotic traffic with rules: experts

Properly-tailored policies, not new road construction or expansion, will be the key to tackling chaotic traffic in the capital city, said Jan Gehl, a well-known Danish architect and urban design consultant, in a seminar in Hanoi last week.

The worst scenario for the city’s traffic circulation is unimaginable if the situation keeps worsening day by day, Gehl told the seminar held by the Embassy of Denmark in Vietnam and the Hanoi Department of Planning and Architecture.

Observable improvements of the city’s public transport system must be prioritized while the city is waiting for the new subway that cannot be in place for at least ten years.

Gehl told the Daily that if the city wanted to deal with the chaos by opening and expanding the current road networks, the outcome may be less than the expectation.

When people recognize they have more room to drive and ride, then more means of transport, mostly individual motorbikes and cars, will be in use, thus worsening congestion.

Vietnam should learn from foreign cities, like the way London regulates the number of vehicles on the streets during rush hours.

London has even considered ‘traffic congestion fees’ on vehicles heading to the center of the city to ease gridlock, Gehl said.

A good network of sidewalks linked to each other could encourage more walking and urban cycling areas could encourage people to use bicycles. Both would help reduce vehicular traffic.

More roads mean nothing but more cars, more traffic jams and more pollution, Gehl stressed.

Urban designers and architects in the capital city must also pay attention to global climate change that will surely challenge populated cosmopolitan areas like Hanoi.

City zoning maps must respond appropriately to each stage of development. They should be based on research showing the right time and place for any construction of the urban transport network.

Week looks to improve national nutrition status

Vietnam will celebrate its Nutrition and Development Week from October 16 to 23 this year. 

It will focus on creating social welfare policies and sustainable agriculture development, aiming to reduce poverty and improve nutrition. 

The week will promote the 2011-2020 National Nutrition Strategy and celebrate World Food Day (October 16), said Le Bach Mai, Deputy Director of the National Institute of Nutrition under the Ministry of Health. 

During the week, the ministry will coordinate with State agriculture bodies to provide guidelines on proper cultivation techniques for farmers and develop VAC (garden-pond-livestock pen) integrated farming systems – a Vietnamese approach to family production of clean, nutrient-rich foods. This could boost the country’s food security and improve Vietnamese people’s diets and household incomes. 

The ministry also plans to raise public awareness on how to eat a healthy, balanced diet. This could help control obesity and improve the physical health of Vietnamese people. 

According to the National Institute of Nutrition, unbalanced diet is among the top causes of malnutrition in the country. In 2014, 24.9 percent of children suffered from acute, chronic malnutrition and 14.5 percent had acute malnutrition. 

These children mainly live in impoverished areas such as the Central Highlands and northern mountainous regions.

Projects with poor reforestation performance face licence revoke

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has urged the Ministries of Industry & Trade, and Agriculture & Rural Development to keep a close eye on forest planting in land converted for hydropower projects and revoke the licences of projects that fail to reforest. 

Speaking at a teleconference on November 12, the Deputy PM said ministries and localities should consider reforestation before approving new projects while asking investors to make plans for planting alternative forests. 

Deputy PM Hai, who is also Head of the National Steering Committee for Forest Protection and Development Plan for 2011-2015, asked localities to push investors to finance forest protection and development. 

Meanwhile, it is necessary to promote communication campaigns on replanting forests among the community, he added. 

According to the Forestry Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, as of September 30, the country had 67,750 hectares of forests needing replanting, including 17,840 hectares converted to hydropower projects, but only 15,959 hectares of forest had been completed, equivalent to 23.6 percent. 

This year, 23,300 hectares of forest are expected to be planted. However, only 8,089 hectares have been covered in 23 out of 50 localities, equivalent to only 36 percent of the yearly target. 

Until the end of this year, localities are predicted to plant total 11,660 hectares of forests, fulfilling only 52.3 percent of the yearly target. 

A number of localities with large bald areas that failed to complete reforestation included Thua Thien-Hue, Cao Bang, Khanh Hoa, Binh Thuan, Phu Yen, Lang Son, Binh Phuoc, Kon Tum and Gia Lai. 

At the conference, ministries and localities voiced difficulties faced in replanting forests in areas converted for other projects, including slow allocation of investor capital and shortcomings in forest management and planting. 

Event participants also pointed to unreasonable capital disbursement for the initiative.

Mekong Delta strives to improve vocational education

Some 300,000 people are expected to receive vocational training across the Mekong Delta region from 2016–2020 under a goal set by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs. 

During the period, at least two vocational facilities and three standard boarding schools will be built in the region to teach ethnic minority students necessary job skills. 

Practical communication campaigns, educational connectivity and provincial action plans will play a prominent role in meeting the ministry’s targets. 

Each locality should devise their programme so that at least 30 percent of local students graduating from secondary schools will pursue vocational education. The students will be guided to develop career goals in line with market demand. 

The State-run vocational establishments will be put under tight management with a focus on quality, while private individuals and organisations are encouraged to set up new facilities. 

The Mekong Delta is home to 176 vocational centres, almost 80 percent of which are publicly run. More than 1.2 million workers have been trained so far. 

In 2015, the rate of trained labourers in the delta’s workforce was estimated at 35.2 percent, up 11.7 percent from 2010 but well below the national average of 40.6 percent.

EVN secures electricity supply in October

Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) expects that maximum daily electrical capacity will remain below the available grid power throughout October. 

The country is expected to consume up to 24,790 MW per day in October, while the national grid is capable of providing between 28,000 and 29,080 MW. As such, domestic electricity consumption will be secure with sufficient backup. 

Due to extreme weather caused by El Nino, most reservoirs have recorded low water levels. By the end of September, total water volume across all reservoirs fell 22 billion cubic metres below last year’s level. 

EVN has set goals for effective use of hydropower plants and water storage facilities. It has also planned preventive and safety measures in response to the upcoming stormy season. 

Despite growing electricity consumption in most categories during the past nine months, Vietnam managed to save more than 2.3 billion kWh.

Preferential loans provided for households escaping poverty

More than 30,000 low-income families were given access to preferential loans worth 1.06 trillion VND (48 million USD) after a month spent implementing a decision by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. 

The decision created a credit policy to help households escape poverty, said the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP), which is financially in charge of the loans.

Large amounts of preferential loans were given out in the central province of Thanh Hoa – 96.3 billion VND (4.3 million USD). Can Tho in the south saw 50 billion VND (2.25 million USD), the central highlands province of Lam Dong saw 47.4 billion VND (2.1 million USD) and the central highlands province of Dak Lak got 29.5 billion VND (1.3 million USD).

Other localities have continued carrying out the loan programme in October.

Under the decision, which took effect on September 5, households escaping poverty are eligible to borrow a maximum amount of 50 million VND (2,250 USD) from VBSP with a yearly preferential interest rate of 8.25 percent for five years to develop production and business. 

The credit programme creates favourable conditions for the borrowers, due to its simple borrowing procedures and no mortgage requirements.

USAID Supports Vietnam Red Cross to Improve Disaster Response  

As the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction is celebrated globally, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced its support for a new disaster risk management program to be implemented by the Vietnam Red Cross (VNRC). The project is expected to benefit an estimated 20,000 people in Bac Lieu, Hoa Binh, and Quang Tri provinces by helping them be better prepared for natural disasters. 

USAID’s support is aimed at helping Vietnam’s communities increase their resilience against disasters. The program will utilize a community-based approach to improve the disaster risk management knowledge and skills of VNRC staff and volunteers, including members of local Disaster Response Teams, as well as local government, community members, school teachers and students. VNRC also plans to provide training on first aid, community vulnerability and capacity assessment, and disaster risk management/climate change adaptation at the national, provincial, and commune levels.

Vietnam remains vulnerable to a host of weather-related risks and climate change impacts, including floods. Between 2013 and October 2015, Vietnam experienced eight tropical cyclones, with heavy rains and strong winds that affected more than 2 million people. 

Since 2000, USAID through its Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) has provided more than $14 million to address emergency response needs and disaster risk management activities in Vietnam.  In the most recent U.S. fiscal year, USAID provided a total $3.5 million to support disaster risk management programs in Vietnam. Cooperation on natural disasters is featured in the United States – Vietnam Joint Vision Statement that resulted from General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s meeting with President Obama in July 2015.

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