Temperature in central Vietnam may touch 40 degrees

Northern provinces will experience hot weather from tomorrow, with temperature expected to hover near 35-37 degrees Celsius, while central provinces may touch 40 degrees Celsius.

According to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, temperature in Ha Noi is expected to touch 36 degrees Celsius tomorrow, and it will increase by one degree every day. The hot spell will end on May 30.

In the central region, Tuong Duong and Con Cuong districts in Nghe An Province and Son Hoa district in Phu Yen Province will experience the hottest weather in the area with 40 degrees Celsius.

Drought in the area is expected to become more severe.     

Over 14% of children below 5 suffer allergic skin infections

According to a study of Dr. Le Thi Minh Huong, deputy director of the Central Hospital of Children in Hanoi and her partners in Hanoi, the northern city of Hai Phong and Ho Chi Minh City, the rate of children below 5 suffering from allergic skin infection is 14.19 percent.

This was released at a scientific seminar in HCMC on May 24 about nutrition for children held by Vietnam Pediatric Association and Nestle Nutrition Institute.

Dr. Grace L. Uy from the Nestlé Nutrition Institutes in South East Asia said that three nations in the region with more cases of allergic skin infection are Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia. It shows that if both mother and father suffer one kind of allergy; as a consequence, the rate of their children having allergy will be 50-80 percent.

Doctors save boy who fell and was impaled by bamboo

Doctors from Thai Nguyen Province's General Hospital have saved a 13-year-old boy who fell out of fruit tree on Sunday and impaled himself on a small bamboo tree.

The bamboo had been chopped down by someone, leaving a sharp point.

When the Mong-ethnic-minority boy from northern mountainous Bac Kan Province's Luong Thuong Commune fell, the bamboo drove through his body from the left part of his belly to the right part of his chest.

Doctors from Thai Nguyen General Hospital said that the accident had not damaged his heart or major blood vessels. The boy is now in a stable condition, and is expected to leave the hospital within 10 days.

Campaign seeks to raise awareness about dengue fever

A communication campaign to raise awareness about dengue prevention was launched today by the Viet Nam Health Environment Management Agency (VIHEMA), in collaboration with the Enesis Group.

During the three-month campaign, communication programmes, including posters, TV clips and print articles, will disseminate information and measures to prevent dengue fever and dengue outbreaks during the rainy season.

"Like a few other South-East Asian countries, Viet Nam is highly susceptible to dengue fever, especially in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta," VIHEMA Deputy Director Nguyen Thi Lien Huong said.

"It is critical that every person knows how to protect himself, simply by destroying mosquito-breeding habitats, ensuring good sanitation for the living environment and using mosquito-repellents such as lotions or sprays on a daily basis," Huong said.

VIHEMA will also provide 50,000 mosquito-repellent sachets to residents of Ha Noi, HCM City and nine Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta provinces with a high prevalence of dengue fever, including Can Tho, Hau Giang, Ca Mau and Soc Trang, as well as An Giang, Tra Vinh and Vinh Long.

Statistics from the health ministry said Viet Nam reported 8,320 dengue fever cases in the first three months of 2015. In the southern region, new dengue fever cases have increased by more than 35 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Child nutrition campaign launched in Hanoi

The Ministry of Health and the National Institute of Nutrition launched a campaign to boost child nutrition in Hanoi on May 25.

The launching ceremony took place at Binh Yen A kindergarten in Thach That district on the occasion of National Nutrition Day (June 1 and 2).

Addressing the event, Truong Dinh Bac, the Deputy Director of the General Department of Preventive Medicine, highlighted the focus of the 2011-2020 National strategy on Nutrition, including the prevention of malnutrition and obesity, and raising public awareness of the importance of eating healthy and nutritious meals every day.

This year’s National Nutrition Day sees the expansion of the programme to distribute vitamin A supplements to children, which will contribute significantly to the strategy’s overall outcomes, he said.

As many as five million children under the age of five take vitamin A supplements every year. This has led to the elimination of dry eye syndrome, which can cause blindness, and a sharp decline in the number of children who suffer from vitamin A deficiency.

Vietnam achieved the Millennium Development Goal on eradicating child malnutrition ahead of schedule.

Municipal association supports AO victims

More than 5,200 victims of Agent Orange/dioxin (AO) in Ho Chi Minh City have benefitted from programmes run by the municipal Association for AO victims over the last decade, Major General Tran Ngoc Tho, Chairman of the association, announced at the association’s 10-year anniversary ceremony held on May 25.

Prof. Dr Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, Vice Chairwoman of the association, stressed that the organisation has overcome numerous challenges and has made positive changes over time, contributing to the provision of support and the safeguarding of the rights and interests of people living with disabilities due to the toxic chemical.

The association also actively links organisations and individuals inside and outside of the country with a view to increasing support for AO victims and helping them integrate into the community.

The organisation has raised funds and spent approximately VND13 billion on building houses, granting scholarships and providing wheelchairs, treatment, rehabilitation and orthopaedic surgery for AO victims over the last ten years.

According to Major General Tran Ngoc Tho, the anniversary will be marked by a seminar on overcoming the consequences of AO/dioxin and a sponsored walk to raise funds for local AO victims, for which approximately 10,000 people have registered so far.

151 Vietnamese nurses and caregivers to leave for Japan

The Ministry of Labour Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) and the Embassy of Japan in Vietnam on May 25 held a bon voyage party for 151 Vietnamese nurses and caregivers leaving to work in Japan.

They will leave for Japan on May 26 to work pursuant to a Vietnam–Japan economic partnership agreement (EPA) aimed at filling shortages in the Japanese workforce in the health care industry.

Currently, foreign nurses and caregivers are allowed to work in Japan only under bilateral Economic Partnership Agreements – which exist with Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines.

According to Dr Tran Quang Huy of the Ministry of Health's Medical Services Administration Department, the nurses will receive training during their three-year stay while working at Japanese hospitals.

Caregivers will be trained for two to four years. If they pass Japan's national exams, they will be allowed to stay and work in Japan as long as they wish.

Huy said he hoped that with the close cooperation of the two sides, more and more Vietnamese nurses and caregivers will have the opportunity to train and work in Japan in the future.

Vietnam is now providing training for 180 Vietnamese nurses and caregivers in the Japanese language and other soft skills in preparation for the next Japanese trip, Huy said.

Hanoi – Hundreds participate in Global Volunteer Day

Hanoi celebrated Global Volunteer Day – a day dedicated to volunteering in the community – on May 24 at the Volunteers for Peace Vietnam (VPV) Club.

At the club more than 20 cultural booths were set up to explore the cultural volunteering traditions of participating countries from around the globe.

“The Festival is a chance for me and other young Palestinians to understand more about how people around the world volunteer to help others in their communities,” said Saleem, a young Palestinian attending the event.

Countries participating in the event included Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Japan, the Republic of Korea (RoK), France, Germany, Australia and Palestine.

Bosch signs MoU with Vietnamese German University

Bosch, a leading global supplier of technologies and services, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Vietnamese-German University (VGU).

Vo Quang Hue, managing director of Bosch Vietnam said that the cooperation with VGU would be  another milestone in the firm’s efforts to support the educational system in Vietnam and contribute to  developing the local talent pool.

He stressed that their continuously growing business both in the country as well as across Asia requires highly qualified associates. This project, therefore, will help both VGU and Bosch to train people for the market’s needs and thus support graduates to find appropriate positions quickly.

The cooperation will focus on five areas including internships for students in bachelor and master programmes, promotion of company-related degree and thesis work, support for student visits to Bosch, research cooperation and sponsoring activities, both for VGU as well as for individual students.

The focus areas will give VGU students the opportunity to combine their theoretical knowledge with practical experience at a high-tech company with state-of-the-art facilities.

Students can join the company for internships and build up personal contacts within Bosch, potentially explore topics for a final thesis or cooperate with Bosch teams in specific research area.

Up to ten new Bachelor students per year in the area of mechanical engineering will be eligible for a scholarship. Each of them will be provided with an annual amount of US$1,000 for a four-year period. Scholarship holders will have the opportunity of joining Bosch upon graduation.

In Vietnam, Bosch already launched an important milestone activity for the educational system in 2013 by cooperating wil LILAMA2 Technical & Technology College in Dong Nai province. The Technical Industrial Apprenticeship programme (TGA) combines theoretical training at LILAMA2 with hands-on work experience at Bosch.

Furthermore, Bosch also supplied and partly sponsored educational equipment like mechatronics training systems, books and training materials for TGA as well as components of the Lean and Green Management Training Centre for VGU.

Road accidents kill 3,700 in first five months

Vietnam recorded as many as 9,318 road traffic accidents in five months, from December 16 to May 15, according to the National Traffic Safety Committee.

The Chief of the Committee's Secretariat, Nguyen Trong Thai, said the number of accidents, deaths, and injuries have decreased as compared to the same period last year.

The number of traffic accidents is down more than 1,450 cases, or 13.5 percent, whereas the number of deaths is 193 less and injuries 2,000 down against the May, 2014 figures.

In May this year alone, some 1,734 traffic accidents occurred, killing 708 people and injuring 1,484 others.

Party official hails Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam’s national efforts

Ha Thi Khiet, Head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Mass Mobilisation, has praised the Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam (BSV) for its contributions to national development.

Over the course of almost 2000 years of existence in Vietnam, Buddhism has demonstrated that it is a patriotic religion, standing shoulder to shoulder with the Vietnamese nation and people, Khiet said during her meeting with Buddhist dignitaries and monks on May 25.

In addition, Khiet continued, Buddhist monks and followers have organised numerous activities to help disadvantaged people and those affected by natural disasters or disease.

Socio-economic development, security and order, and national sovereignty and solidarity have been strengthened and developed further, partly due to Buddhist monks and followers.

Khiet said she believed that Buddhism will continue its tradition of contributing to a prosperous, democratic, fair and civilised Vietnam.

Most Venerable Thich Thanh Nhieu, Vice Chairman of the BSV, expressed his gratitude to the Party and State for its support for the religion.

Action month for children to be launched

A month of action for children entitled “Listening to children” will be launched across the country from now to June 1, aiming to promote laws and policy as well as actions on ensuring children’s right to participate.

Deputy Minister of the Labour-Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Hong Lan made the announcement at a press conference held in Hanoi on May 25, adding that the ministry will organize the official launch of the month on May 29 in the northern province of Hai Duong

She highlighted that children’s forums are to be held at national and provincial levels to collect their opinions on child-related issues and on the draft revised Law on Child Protection, Care and Education together with a draft programme on promoting children’s participation right for 2015-2020.

Numerous activities are also planned for the action month such as presenting gifts and scholarships for disadvantaged children as well as inaugurating facilities for children.

During the action month, the National Fund for Vietnamese Children (NFVC) will splash out a total amount of 15 billion VND (698,000 USD) for humanitarian activities including corrective surgery for children with facial and eye defects, screening examination of congenital heart diseases in children. The Fund will also begin work on several student boarding houses, upgrade classrooms and build fresh water facilities in some provinces.

In the northern province of Ha Nam, 40 poor children were presented with scholarships at the launch of the month of action on May 25.

The same day in the southern province of Ben Tre, the provincial Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Department in conjunction with a charity organisation handed over 70 scholarships to children from poor families.

Religious groups to play a role in climate change resilience

A conference to promote the role of Vietnamese religions in coping with climate change was held in the central province of Thua Thien – Hue on May 25.

The event was jointly organised by the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee (VFF) and the Nordic Assistance to Vietnam (NAV).

Participants discussed possible methods for adapting to environmental change as well as measures to develop a network of cooperation between religious groups and relevant agencies.

A number of videos were shown to highlight the impact of climate change around the world and in Vietnam in particular, one of the countries the most seriously affected by climate change over the last five decades.

The Vice Chairman of the VFF Central Committee, Le Ba Trinh, said climate change was a reality, as demonstrated by the Earth’s rising temperature, melting ice caps, rising sea levels, and extreme weather events, such as floods, tsunamis, earthquakes and droughts.

Statistics show that in recent years natural disasters, such as floods, landslides, droughts, and salt intrusion, have left over 9,000 Vietnamese people dead or missing, and caused a loss of 1.5 percent in the gross domestic product (GDP) each year.

Vietnam is expected to have to resettle 135,000 households in 2015. By 2050, up to 1 million residents of the Mekong Delta provinces, the country’s most vulnerable region, will have to migrate to other areas due to constant floods and droughts.

In response to climate change, the Communist Party of Vietnam and State have developed policies and strategies to mobilise financial resources.

Vietnam joined the UN Kyoto Protocol on mitigating the greenhouse gas emissions in 1997.

The Government of Vietnam has approved a national target programme on climate change adaptation and has set up a national committee on coping with environmental change.

Vietnam is pursuing a proactive approach until 2020 and beyond by reducing the risk of natural disasters and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, while also utilising natural resources in a more effective and sustainable manner, restoring ecosystems and protecting biodiversity in a bid to transition towards a green economy.

VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri