Govt spells out ambitious plan to develop grassroots healthcare

A doctor at the Thảo Điền Ward Health Station in HCM City’s District 2 examines a patient. 

The Ministry of Health is making efforts to strengthen the grassroots healthcare system to improve the quality of primary healthcare and achieve universal health coverage, which will ensure that everyone can access quality healthcare services without facing financial hardship.

Speaking at a workshop on this issue in HCM City on Wednesday, Minister of Health Nguyễn Thị Kim Tiến said all health stations in wards, towns and communes would be upgraded and developed to strengthen primary healthcare in keeping with family medicine principles by 2023.

Since last year 26 health stations in eight cities and provinces have been selected to implement the ministry’s pilot programme for improving grassroots-level healthcare.

Tiến called on people’s committees in those places to allocate funds for upgrading facilities at those health stations.

“The ministry will provide them with sufficient medical equipment.”   

Tiến targets completion of the task by early next year.

“Local health departments will be in charge of arranging doctors for the stations. Doctors at district-level health facilities should be sent to the stations for a short time in case of a shortage there or to train their personnel.”

Dr Nguyễn Tấn Bỉnh, director of the HCM City Department of Health, said the city would follow the roadmap for improving its grassroots-level healthcare system proposed by the ministry.

“Doctors at district-level hospitals are being sent to local health stations to work for 16 months to one year.”

The city has also developed its own other health stations like the three selected for the pilot programme, he added.

Huỳnh Minh Phúc, deputy director of the health department of the Mekong Delta province of Long An, which has been selected for the programme, told Việt Nam News three health stations in his province have been chosen for upgrades.

They are in Mỹ Thạnh Đông, Mỹ Quý Tây and Bình Thành communes in Đức Huệ District, he said.

“Because the Mỹ Thạnh Đông Health Station is close to several hospitals, it is difficult to get patients. So it has been chosen to develop healthcare services for the prevention of contagious and non-communicable diseases, environmental hygiene and propagation of preventive measures against diseases,” Phúc said.

The Bình Thành and Mỹ Quý Tây stations are adopting more medical techniques to improve treatment because many people come there since they are situated far from hospitals, he added.

They have enough doctors to meet the need, he said.

After the programme ends, the province would upgrade its remaining 189 health stations, he promised.

The ministry also plans to create a telemedicine network comprising the 26 selected health stations, connecting them with higher-level health facilities.

Tiến said grassroots-level healthcare facilities across the country do not meet the expectations and demands of the public.

Many patients still do not trust their local health stations and go to higher-level hospitals for treatment, she said.

“Eleven per cent of patients who go to provincial-level hospitals can be treated at health stations.” 

Tiền Giang develops saltwater, brackish-water aquaculture

Shrimp breeding ponds in Tiền Giang Province’s Gò Công Đông District. 

Saltwater and brackish-water aquaculture production in coastal areas in the Mekong Delta province of Tiền Giang has improved farmers’ incomes in the last 10 years under a national marine strategy.

With its 32km of coast, the province has 9,750ha of saltwater and brackish water aquaculture, mostly in Gò Công Town, Gò Công Đông, Gò Công Tây and Tân Phú Đông districts, according to the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Nguyễn Văn Danh, secretary of the province’s Party Committee, said the area of saltwater and brackish water aquaculture in coastal areas had increased by 2.7 times compared to 2008.

The annual output of saltwater and brackish water aquaculture -- mostly shrimps and clams -- reaches over 43,000 tonnes.

After 10 years of implementing the Việt Nam marine strategy towards 2020 in the province, Tiền Giang has developed infrastructure to serve aquaculture production in Gò Công Town, Gò Công Đông, Gò Công Tây and Tân Phú Đông districts.       

The province’s agriculture department has improved fishery extension activities and provided advanced technologies to farmers, including techniques to produce shrimp and clams.

The department’s Agriculture Extension Centre has set up breeding models for clean black-tiger shrimp, white-legged shrimp, tilapia and other aquatic species for farmers to visit and learn.

Trần Quang Thành in Gò Công Đông District’s Kiểng Phước Commune has turned his two hectares of low-yielding paddy field into a coastal area for breeding black-tiger shrimp and white-legged shrimp.

He harvests an average of 10 tonnes of shrimp a year and earns a profit of about VNĐ700 million (US$30,000).

Gò Công Đông District authorities have encouraged farmers to breed shrimp in areas which are near river mouths, and inside sea dykes and saltwater-affected areas.

The district has zoned nearly 2,000 alluvial grounds for breeding clams, with annual output of 20,000 tonnes. The clams are either sold domestically or processed for export.

Nguyễn Văn Bá, who has three hectares of black-tiger shrimp in Tân Phú Đông District’s Phú Tân Commune, said he had switched from breeding black-tiger shrimp to an industrial farming model and was now breeding white-legged shrimp.

“The profits from breeding shrimp have been stable in recent years because of the use of advanced farming techniques,” he said.

Trần Công Danh, deputy chairman of the Phú Tân Commune People’s Committee, said farmers could earn a profit of VNĐ20 million ($850) per ha per crop from extensive shrimp farming and VNĐ200 million ($8,500) per ha per crop from industrial farming.

Besides expanding aquaculture areas, the province has also developed a fleet of 1,400 fishing boats with more than 9,800 fishermen, according to its agriculture department.

The Vàm Láng seafood processing industrial cluster and logistics services have both contributed to the development of the sea-based economy.

More than 300 vessels provide logistics services for vessels operating offshore.

Also, Tiền Giang has invested in a system of Mỹ Tho and Vàm Láng ports, to handle the catches.

It has also built a storm shelter at the mouth of the Soài Rạp River that can accommodate 350 fishing vessels.

In the first nine months of the year, the province exported more than $250 million of seafood. Its seafood is exported to more than 100 countries and territories, including the US, Spain and China. 

Engaging ASEAN youth in gender initiatives

Youth representatives from ASEAN countries participated in the event. — Photo Courtesy of the UN Women

Youth representatives from ASEAN countries, together with 100 other young people from Việt Nam, on Wednesday participated in the “Gender Dialogues: Engaging ASEAN Youth in Gender Initiatives” course at the Green One UN House in Hà Nội.

The event highlighted the potential for youth engagement to generate social change for gender equality and the empowerment of women at both regional and national levels

The dialogue concluded a five-day participatory “Training of Trainers: Change Makers - Youth Activists for Gender Equality” which concluded yesterday.

The core material used for the training was the UN Women’s The Change Makers, a toolkit for young activists to end violence against women and girls.

The training was jointly organised by the Centre for Sustainable Development Studies (CSDS), UN Women Việt Nam and the Việt Nam Volunteer Centre (VVC), with the support of the Mission of Canada to ASEAN.

Mohd Faizul Ilham Ibrahim, one of two youth representatives from Brunei, said: “This is one of the most comprehensive training [courses] on gender equality I have ever participated in. It offered us practical experience on top of theory, giving the young participants a broad understanding of gender issues and the challenges that hinder progression in gender equality.”

“I will return to Brunei fully-equipped to share this knowledge with people around me and advocate for actions in my own community,” said Mohd.

The ASEAN Regional Plan of Action on the Elimination of Violence against Women (ASEAN RPA on EVAW) highlights the importance of youth engagement as a means of generating social change for gender equality and the empowerment of women at both regional and national levels. Echoing this spirit, the course aimed to engage youth at the regional level to contribute and lead the efforts to address and take action to alleviate gender inequality and gender-based violence in ASEAN countries.

In the “Gender Dialogues: Engaging ASEAN Youth in Gender Initiatives,” 20 representatives from ASEAN countries and more than 100 Vietnamese youngsters together with international and local experts participated in a dialogue about the challenges and solutions to achieving gender equality in ASEAN by 2030.

Following the dialogue, the group of ASEAN Youth for Gender Equality released a joint statement in an effort to mobilise both individual and ASEAN-wide support for gender equality.

“We are happy that some youths participating in this dialogue have already identified themselves as change makers after the Change Makers training over the last few days,” said Elisa Fernandez, Head of Office at UN Women Việt Nam.

“I encourage you to maintain these spirits beyond today and throughout your lives, and hope you are inspired to continue by targeting your peers in rural and urban settings, proposing campus safety measures to school authorities, and advocating for gender mainstreaming in school policies,” she said.

Đôn Tuấn Phương, director of the CSDS, said: “We believe that youths are capable of driving change with their creativity and passion. Once connected, they can learn and share quickly, and they can inspire each other and their respective communities in the pursuit of a mutual goal.”

Đỗ Thị Kim Hoa, director of the VVC, said: “We are glad to see the recognition of the central role volunteers play, especially young volunteers, in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. It’s great that young people from 10 ASEAN countries have gathered in Việt Nam to promote gender equality initiatives in the region.”

The programme also provided small grants to help participants share the knowledge they gained through the training with their peers and initiate campaigns or projects in their local communities.

Following the course, at least 12 projects will be undertaken in communities in ASEAN countries with financial and technical support from the organisers to tackle the issue of gender inequality.  

The dialogue is a foundation for creating and maintaining a network of changemakers, and youth activists for gender equality in the ASEAN region, and beginning a collective awareness-raising campaign in the region which will promote gender equality and youth engagement in the issue. 

Vietnam, Mexico exchange press experiences

Deputy Editor-in-chief of the Communist Review Vu Van Ha (Photo: www.tapchicongsan.org.vn)

 

A delegation of the Communist Review, a magazine of the Communist Party of Vietnam, paid a working trip to Mexico from October 9-13 to share press-related experiences.

During the visit, the delegation, led by its Deputy Editor-in-chief Vu Van Ha, met with leaders of Mexican state news agency Notimex. At the meeting, the two sides discussed issues related to press management, printing, television and other news types and human resources training.

Director of Production Arturo Mendoza Toraya underlined the efficiency of Notimex’s cooperation with the Vietnam News Agency (VNA), while voicing his hope to strengthen and expand cooperation with other Vietnamese press agencies in general and the Communist Review in particular.

For his part, Ha spoke highly of Notimex’s role in news reporting in Mexico and Latin America.

The delegation also met with Director of Regeneracion newspaper Jesus Ramirez Cuevas and visited the printing facility of the Labour Party (PT) and the Vietnamese Embassy in Mexico.

Nearly 70,000 visits first Hanoi Food Culture Festival

At the Hanoi cuisine festival 2018 

The Hanoi Food Culture Festival, the first of its kind, had served close to 70,000 visitors during its 4-day course at Thong Nhat Park from October 11 to 14.

The festival reproduced the cultural spaces of craft villages associated with typical Hanoi dishes such as pho Hanoi (Hanoi noodle soup), banh cuon Thanh Tri (Thanh Tri steamed rice pancakes), com Me Tri and Phu Do (Me Tri and Phu Do young sticky rice), and gio cha Uoc Le (Uoc Le steamed pork paste).

According to To Van Dong, Director of the municipal Department of Culture and Sports, 81 local dishes were made available at the event, which was expected to contribute to promote Hanoi’s intangible cultural heritage and preserve cultural values.

During the event, visitors could watch how the dishes were made and what types of traditional cooking tools were used during these processes. 

They were also treated to traditional games and cultural performances.