Vietnamese products on show at Singapore Gifts & Premiums Fair

Visitors to the booth of a Vietnamese company at the SGPFair 2018 

Vietnamese businesses are showcasing their products at the Singapore Gifts & Premiums Fair (SGPFair) 2018 that opened in the island country on July 18.

The 19th SGPFair features businesses from more than 10 countries and territories, including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Cambodia, Vietnam, China and the Chinese territories of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

Among the six Vietnamese businesses at the event, A&EM with paintings, Doma Vina with paper toys and Tu Duy with horn souvenirs and jewellery all took part in the fair last year.

The newcomers are Sweety Lovey with kids’ clothes, BOARC with handicrafts made from bamboo toothpicks and YLP which helps Vietnamese businesses attend international exhibitions and trade promotion events.

Notably, handicrafts made from bamboo toothpicks have attracted much interest from visitors as they recreate famous destinations around the world like the White House of the US, the Taj Mahal of India and the Gardens by the Bay of Singapore.

The SGPFair is believed to be a good occasion for Vietnamese firms to introduce their products and seek partners to expand export markets. They also have a chance to learn the the latest gift trends.

The SGPFair 2018 will run through July 20 at Marina Bay Sands.

Project on rare primate preservation launched in Thanh Hoa

A corner of Pu Hu nature reserve 

A scientific project to evaluate and preserve primates in Pu Hu Nature Reserve in the northern central province of Thanh Hoa in 2019-2021 was recently approved.

The management board of the reserve area will research the current status and distribution area, gender, living conditions, food and threats to the species. 

It is set to hold conferences in 53 villages and sign commitments to raise public awareness about rare primate protection.

In addition, 11 coordinating projects will be carried out to control hunting rifles in villages close to the reserve.  The board is also working to propose preservation measures and printing posters for communication work. 

The number of rare primates is declining due to hunting and illegal deforestation. The project aims to enhance protection of the animals and prevent hunting activities, contributing to preserving biodiversity. 

Pu Hu Nature Reserve is home to many rare animals, with up to 30 of them named in the Red Book of Vietnam and of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, including Tibetan bears, Malayan bears, gayals and Delacour’s langur.

Vietnam’s primates are mainly found in Ha Giang, Tuyen Quang and Thanh Hoa provinces, with many animals listed in the red book.

Summer camp: Young expats explore Thua Thien – Hue scenes

Young Vietnamese expatriates visit the central province of Thua Thien-Hue, as part of the activities of the Vietnam Summer Camp (Source: traihevietnam.vn)

 

Young Vietnamese expatriates on July 17 visited and joined charitable events in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue, as part of the activities of the Vietnam Summer Camp 2018.

In Hue ancient city, 120 young overseas Vietnamese (OV) from 29 nations and territories visited Dai Noi (Imperial Citadel), Thien Mu pagoda and Lang Co beach in Phu Loc district. They also enjoyed Hue traditional music performed on Huong (Perfume) River and tried Hue’s specialties.

On the occasion, participating youths presented 30 gift sets worth 1 million VND (43 USD) each to 10 families and 20 poor students in the locality.

Nguyen Ngoc Anh, an OV from Poland, expressed her delight when she donated part of her savings to support friends of her age and disadvantaged families in the province.

On July 15, the young delegates offered incense and flowers at the Dong Loc T-junction monument in the central province of Ha Tinh. They also listened to stories about the sacrifice of 10 young girls who were volunteers helping with logistics at the junction during the anti-US war.

Initiated in 2004, the Vietnam Summer Camp has attracted about 2,000 young people from various countries and territories.  Each camp had a specific theme and events designed to bring different experiences and lessons on the Vietnamese culture and history to the participants, who previously had little knowledge of the country.

This year’s camp, which runs from July 10-25, features a big programme of activities across 11 localities from the North to the South.

The programme includes visits to historical and cultural relic sites in Hanoi and the provinces of Ninh Binh, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Quang Nam, Kon Tum and Dak Lak.

The closing event will be held in Buon Ma Thuot city, the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, on July 23.

About 52 percent of rural residents in Hanoi enjoy clean water

About 52 percent of residents in rural areas of Hanoi, or more than 2.23 million people, had get access to clean water by May 2018, according to the municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

As scheduled, until the end of this year, projects to expand water supply networks will be completed, benefiting additional 61,000 households, and raising the ratio of rural people enjoying clean water to over 55 percent.

Hanoi has approved the proposals of 23 investors to carry out 34 projects covering 267 communes with 614,347 households and over 2.48 million people. Currently, contractors are installing pipes to supply water to local people.

A representative of Ha Dong Clean Water One-member Co. Ltd. said the firm is speeding up the construction of a pipe system to households for water supply projects in Ha Dong, Hoai Duc, Ung Hoa districts and Van Dinh town.

The percentage of people accessing clean water in many localities remains low, including in Ung Hoa district with only 29.5 percent and My Duc. 31.5 percent.

The reason behind the situation is limitation in coordination between investors and local administrations in some private-funded projects.

According to the department, in order to raise the ratio, the city will carry out an additional nine water supply projects for 78 communes with an aim to provide clean water to 673,180 people.

Hanoi also expects to increase the ratio of people enjoying clean water to about 55 percent at the end of the year. The city will also consider the approval of proposals on investment projects covering Me Linh, Ba Vi, Phuc Tho, Dan Phuong, Thach That and Chuong My districts. Hanoi also hopes that all communes will attract investors who are interested in water supply projects.

Another drug smuggling ring from Laos busted

Customs officers and border guards of Cau Treo international border gate, in cooperation with police in the central province of Ha Tinh, on July 17 arrested three suspects who were illegally transporting 25 kilogrammes of crystal meth of 52 cakes (nearly 18 kilogrammes) of heroin from Laos to Vietnam.

The suspects are Keo Viset China, born in 1982, Cang Chay, born in 1993, and Keo Phommasane, born in 1967. They are all residing in Thakkek town of Khammuane province of Laos.

The authorities discovered the drug amount during security check for luggage and vehicles of passengers crossing the Cau Treo international border gate in Son Kim 1 commune, Huong Son district of Ha Tinh.

The trio initially confessed that they bought the drugs in Laos and transported to Vietnam for selling.

All the three suspects and exhibits were then handed over to authorized agencies for settlement in line with the law.

On July 15, border guards, public security forces, and customs officers of the central Quang Tri province also seized 4,234 meth pills en route to Vietnam from Laos. 

Authorities arrested Nguyen Thi Thao Ly, 17, residing in An Du Dong 1, Vinh Tan commune, Vinh Linh district (Quang Tri province) and Tran Thanh Giang, 22, residing in Tan Ninh commune, Quang Ninh district (Quang Binh province). They are believed to be part of a drug ring, trafficking drugs from Laos to Quang Binh for consumption.-VNA

Vietnam moves to control non-communicable diseases

Diagnosis and management of outpatient treatment of non-communicable diseases like hypertension at commune-level health stations will be the focus of the Project on Strengthening Management of Hypertension and Diabetes at Commune Health Station and Communication on Salt Use Reduction.

The project was launched at a workshop held by the Ministry of Health’s General Department of Preventive Medicine (GDPM) in Hanoi on July 17.

Also, the project will give due attention to giving consultations to obesity and pre-diabetes patients as well as enhance communication works to raise public awareness of daily salt intake.

A report conducted by the GDPM and the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2015 showed that one in five Vietnamese adults has high blood pressure and one in 25 gets diabetes. However, only 14 percent of hypertension patients, and 29 percent of diabetes patients were under treatment at medical stations.

According to GDPM Deputy Director Truong Dinh Bac, cardiovascular is the most common non-infectious disease in Vietnam, which leads to 30 percent of deaths nationwide. 

He said that high blood pressure and diabetes are the major cause of cardiovascular, and too much salt intake could increase diabetes and hypertension risks. 

Each Vietnamese person consumes up to 9.4 grammes of salt a day, nearly doubling the level recommended by the WHO which is under 5 grammes per day.

At the workshop, the WHO representative in Vietnam affirmed that the organisation has supported Vietnam in reducing burden of non-communicable diseases. Regarding cardiovascular, the WHO and the Ministry of Health has piloted the hypertension and diabetes management models at coummune-level medical stations.

The WHO has also given assistance in building a national action plan on communications on salt use reduction during 2018-2025. 

It has worked to improve capacity of commune-level medical stations in 11 provinces in hypertension and diabetes treatment and management. In the second phase, the project will back 10 more localities.

Ha Nam launches school milk programme for 2018-2020

The People’s Committee of the northern province of Ha Nam organised a conference on July 17 to launch a school milk programme for the 2018-2020 period.

The programme, which will be implemented at a cost of 187.3 billion VND, aims to improve the nutrition of kindergarten and primary pupils by giving milk to them daily.

It will help reduce the malnutrition rate, improve the stature and physical strength of children in terms of weight and height, and control overweight and obesity among local kids, contributing to developing future human resources.

The programme sets a target of providing milk for students in all public kindergartens and 76 percent of primary schools by 2020.

All managers, teachers and health workers of the schools will be equipped with knowledge and skills to practice nutritious care, especially school milk, for schoolchildren, while all parents will be guided how to care for their kids’ health at home.

The programme will support all milk costs for pupils who are children of war invalids and martyrs, and come from poor households, while those from near-poor families will get 60 percent support and others 40 percent.

In 2017, Ha Nam piloted the school milk programme in 30 local kindergartens. As a result, all the schools received and gave milk to kids at certain time and their teachers were equipped with knowledge on school nutrition and methods to persuade parents to join the programme.

According to reports, the malnutrition rate among children in Ha Nam province remained high, with the weight-for-age rate of 12.9 percent and the height-for-age rate of 23 percent. The average height of five-year-old children was 103.64 cm.

Can Tho, Save the Children join hands to protect, care for children

The People’s Committee of Can Tho city had a working session with Save the Children on July 17 to look into cooperation programmes, especially activities targeting disadvantaged children.

Country Director of Save the Children Dragana Strinic said her organisation highly values efforts by relevant agencies, communities and families in the Mekong Delta city to give local children a healthy, safe, and friendly environment to grow up.

She said she hopes Can Tho will stand side by side with her organisation in caring for children’s material and spiritual life and creating the best possible conditions for all children, especially those living in disadvantaged circumstances, to have a better life.

From now to 2020, Save the Children will work with local relevant agencies and media outlets to organise communication campaigns raising public awareness of child protection.

It will coordinate with the municipal Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs to organise training courses and workshops on child care and protection to improve officials and social workers’ capacity in this field.

Notably, it will assist the city in building and calling for investment in child care models targeting less privileged and vulnerable groups such as street children, children prone to HIV infection and abused children.

Additionally, the organisation will coordinate with the local educational sector to improve disadvantaged and ethnic minority children’s reading and writing skills through learning toolkits with proven effectiveness.

Save the Children also called on municipal authorities to help deal with violence and abuse cases against children while protecting and giving support to children victims.

Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Truong Quang Hoai Nam welcomed Strinic’s proposal, affirming that Can Tho will provide favourable conditions for bilateral cooperation programmes.

He stressed his city prioritises protecting children from abuse and supporting those with disadvantages so that every child has the best opportunities to develop. As a driving force of the Mekong Delta, Can Tho wants to expand these cooperation programmes to the whole region so as to improve local child care and protection.

Use of traditional Vietnamese medicine expanded nationwide

As of 2017, the number of communal clinics using traditional medicine had increased by nearly 24 per cent compared to 2008. — Photo baothaibinh.com.vn

The health care system of traditional Vietnamese medicine has been expanded, with 58 out of 63 provinces and cities nationwide having traditional medicine hospitals, participants heard at a workshop yesterday in Hà Nội.

The workshop aimed to review ten years of implementing a direction of Secretariat of the Central Committee Communist Party on the development of the traditional Vietnamese medicine sector.

According to statistics revealed at the workshop, the number of beds at traditional medicine hospitals nationwide has doubled since 2008.

As of 2017, the number of communal clinics using traditional medicine had increased by nearly 24 per cent compared to 2008.

More than 70 per cent of communes using traditional medicine in the country have health insurance coverage.

Traditional medicine health care services in the private sector are reported to have multiple forms with a growing number of services such as private hospitals, clinics, traditional medicine business facilities and medicinal material wholesale facilities.

There is a growing trend to combine Vietnamese traditional medicine with Western medicine.

Health minister Nguyễn Thị Kim Tiến said that over the years since the direction took effect in 2008, the ministry had enforced 46 legal documents related to the management of traditional medicine.

She hailed the sector for making progress including the planting and growing of medicinal materials and the control of fake materials.

“Quality of treatment methods using traditional Vietnamese medicine combined with modern one has been paid more attention. The health care system using traditional medicine has also improved from central to local levels,” she said.

A legal system related to Vietnamese traditional medicine has been applied in private and public sectors.

However, participants agreed that investment to develop traditional Vietnamese medicine has not been in tandem with the important role of traditional medicine in health care. Meanwhile, current regulations have loopholes that hinder traditional medicine development.

Many officials are not fully aware of traditional medicine’s role in treatment and disease prevention, participants said.

Korea Tourism Organisation rolls out summer promotion

Windsurfing at the Hangang River in Seoul. — Photo visitkorea.or.kr

The Korea Tourism Organisation (KTO) has launched various promotions to attract Vietnamese tourists to South Korea this summer.

It has tied up with 12 local travel firms, including SaigonTourist, Vietravel, Bến Thành Tourist, TST Tourist, and Hanoitourist, for a campaign called “Brilliant summer, don’t miss out a visit to South Korea”.

The firms will offer new tour packages to South Korea with discounts and gifts.

Individual tourists travelling to South Korea by Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air and Jeju Air will have a chance to get free entrance tickets to popular tourist attractions in South Korea such as Everland theme park and Caribbean Bay water park and a Discover Seoul Pass, which allows entry to many tourist attractions in Seoul, and a K-Tour Card, an exclusive card for international tourists.

The promotion is meant for customers buying air tickets from June 1 to July 25 and travelling to South Korea from August to October.

KTO will also offer gifts to people buying travel and tourism services via Klook.com. 

Vietnamese netizens go ape over World Cup

Vietnam has been listed as the second country in the world after Nepal for the highest number of “World Cup” searches as of July 17.

According to data from Google Trends, the other countries in the Top 5 are Bolivia (3), Kyrgyzstan (4) and Indonesia (5).

The data indicates that most searches in Vietnam come from rural areas except for the central resort hubs Nha Trang and Da Nang.

VietGate Communication, a local PR agency associated with Facebook, reported that Vietnam was among top five countries with the most interactions on Facebook involving the World Cup. Other countries in this list were Brazil, US, Mexico and India.

Facebook said on its official page that more than 2.3 billion interactions related to the World Cup were generated by 383 million users.

In these interactions, the most discussed teams were Brazil (1), Argentina (2), France (3), Russia (4) and Mexico (5). The five most discussed players of World Cup 2018 were Lionel Messi (1) of Argentina, Neymar Jr (2) of Brazil, Cristiano Ronaldo (3) of Portugal, Philippe Coutinho (4) of Brazil, and Mohamed Salah (5) from Egypt.

On July 15, France clinched a 4-2 victory over Croatia in Moscow to take home the 2018 World Cup.

Eight Vietnamese teachers participate in Honeywell space camp in the US

The teachers participated in several science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) inspired activities during one of the two five-day programs held over two consecutive weeks from June 14 to 19 and June 21 to 25.  

Honeywell (NYSE: HON) hosted 224 teachers from 35 countries and 45 US states and territories at the annual Honeywell Educators at Space Academy (HESA) programme at the US Space & Rocket Center (USSRC) in Huntsville, Ala. Eight Vietnamese teachers went through a rigorous review and selection process were accepted and participated in the program.

Honeywell Hometown Solutions, the company’s corporate citizenship initiative, and USSRC created the program in 2004 to inspire middle school science and math teachers to not only continue their own education, but to promote STEM in their classrooms. Since its creation, more than 3,000 teachers have attended the HESA program and have cumulatively gone on to impact more than 5 million students around the world. Of that number, there are 25 educators from Vietnam.

“We are thrilled to continue our long partnership with Honeywell to bring teachers to learn and grow at our facility in Alabama,” said Dr. Deborah Barnhart, CEO and executive director of USSRC. “The opportunity to help these teachers ignite their students’ passion in space, science and technology is one we at USSRC look forward to each year.”

eight vietnamese teachers participate in honeywell space camp in the united states

Eight Vietnamese teachers participate in Honeywell space camp in the United States

While at Space Camp, teachers attended 45 hours of immersive classroom and laboratory instruction focused on science, space exploration, and leadership skills development. In addition to learning new instructional exercises, including coding challenges, the teachers built a network of peers from around the world to continue collaborating and developing their STEM education goals.

“Honeywell Educators at Space Academy (HESA) was the best training experience for me to accumulate more teaching techniques as well as understand advanced science and technology,” said 2018 HESA alumnus Nguyen Thi Duyen, teacher at Nguyen Sieu High School, Hanoi. “I now have innovative ideas to enhance my curriculum which is sure to be much more interesting, inspiring and intelligible for my students. I am thankful to Honeywell for designing a meaningful and practical program for educators to make a difference in our STEM related lesson plans.”

“Governments in all continent shave invested in advancing STEM education to keep up with the increasing demand for STEM workforce. At HESA, Honeywell supported teachers and provided them with new ideas and concepts, thereby helping them to inspire their students,” said Mai Trang Thanh, president of Honeywell Indochina. “This is among our corporate social responsibility priorities in Vietnam, and Honeywell is proud to make a contribution to the development of STEM education and future high-quality local workforce.”

To qualify, HESA candidates complete a rigorous application process. Qualified teachers are awarded scholarships, round-trip airfare, tuition, meals and accommodations, supported by Honeywell and its employees.