Students respond to blood donation campaign

Thousands of students from various universities in Hanoi participated in a voluntary blood donation campaign at the Hanoi University of Technology on January 25 as part of the ongoing ‘Red Sunday’ festival nationwide.

Speaking at the event , Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said more efforts need to be made to further promote voluntary blood donation movements, including raising public awareness and keeping blood transfusion safe .

Phuc joined volunteers in signing to show determination in promoting voluntary blood donation , making the Red Sunday develop further in the coming time.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien, who is also head of the National Steering Committee for Voluntary Blood Donation, quoted the World Health Organsisation’s statistics saying that Vietnam needs minimum 1.8 million blood units to save patients.

However, the country has yet to meet the demand, she noted, adding that the ministry has been working for a more modern blood donation centres nationwide to improve the situation.

Also on January 25, more than 1,300 youngsters in the central province of Nghe An donated nearly 1,000 blood units in response to the national campaign.

In 2014, local youths organised over 60 blood donation drives, collecting over 19,370 blood units for the needy.

At the same time, more than 700 students and young people in the central province of Khanh Hoa also gathered in Nha Trang city to join the Red Sunday campaign, which is being held for the first time in the locality, donating about 500 units of blood.

Last year, the province collected about 12,680 blood units from 16,000 people via 85 blood donation drives.

This year, the “Red Sunday” festival, the seventh of its kind, is scheduled to take place in 18 cities and provinces across the country between January and February . About 15,000 blood units are expected to be collected during the event.

The blood donation events in response to the festival have been held in the provinces of Nam Dinh , Vinh Phuc and Thanh Hoa , with more than 1,500 units of blood collected.

Vietnam students create hi-tech multifunctional mirror

A group of students from the central city of Da Nang have created a hi-tech multifunctional mirror which they call a ‘smart mirror.’

The PIV-VK group including Le Tu Hieu, Phan Ngoc Diep, and Nguyen Huu Vinh from Class 10DT2 of the E – Telecommunication Department of the University of Science and Technology under The University of Da Nang has turned a normal mirror into a multifunctional tool applied with advanced technology.

The mirror is equipped with a 10cm-thick electronic circuit, a touch screen, and status indicators.

It allows users to listen to music and read books while checking their looks in front of it.

The 50cm x 70cm mirror can also read messages, give weather information, and is capable of connecting to a mobile phone’s Bluetooth system, as well as informing users of their health condition via statistics on height, weight, and heartbeat.

Phan Ngoc Diep, leader of the PIV-VK group, said the idea of making the mirror came up when the assemblage attended the Texas Instruments MCU Contest 2014 held by the U.S.- based Texas Instruments Inc. from March to November last year.

“We initially aimed to create a technology product with healthcare functions, including height and weight measurement,” Diep said. “We won the second prize.”

However, realizing that the product was quite boring and not attractive to users, the group came up with an idea that integrates all the technology into a mirror, an item that is used daily.

According to Diep, the group has also met difficulties, especially financial problems. Costs to make the mirror have reached VND6 million (US$280) from the school’s funding and their own pockets, and could reach even higher.

Another problem is it is not easy to find components for the smart mirror.

“Besides some components which were sponsored by the contest’s organizers, we had to go to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to buy or order them from overseas,” group member Le Tu Hieu said.

The mirror’s design is also a challenge. Since motherboard manufacturing technology in the central region is not as developed as it is in the big cities, the motherboard is quite big.

“The smart mirror is basically finished but our group is still not happy,” Diep said. “We want to find a company or a sponsor to work with and develop and improve the product, bringing the smart mirror to customers.”

“The mirror could only be in full swing when it is applied to life.”

Associate Professor Doctor Nguyen Van Tuan, head of the E – Telecommunication Department of the University of Science and Technology, said he thinks highly of the product’s potential.

“They have mastered microcontroller technology, and successfully integrated it with a mobile-based platform,” he said. “The mirror is customizable and can suit all kinds of consumers.”

Deputy PM inspects sea dykes in Ca Mau

A Government working team led by Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai inspected the erosion at the sea dyke along the eastern coastline and the Ca Mau Cape in the southernmost province of Ca Mau.

According to the provincial People’s Committee, more than 40 kilometers of the province’s sea dyke system has been severely damaged by erosion, including a 5km section of the 76km long eastern sea dyke in the districts of Ngoc Hien and Dam Doi .

Earlier, t he province has repaired about 12km of this eastern dyke system, and is seeking around 1 trillion VND (47 million USD) to build an extension of this dyke with a view to protecting local forests and communities.

Deputy PM Hai hailed the efforts of the province in dealing with the dyke erosion, while asking the province to make careful study before building new dykes in order to find the most suitable solution.

Ca Mau province, surrounded by sea on three sides, is being threatened by saltwater intrusion under the impacts of climate change and sea level rise while local sea dykes have seriously degraded.

A report released by the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment revealed that close to 10,000 hectares of agricultural land in the province have been intruded by sea water.-

Media’s role in water pollution control highlighted

A conference was held on January 23 to discuss the role of the media in monitoring and detecting water pollution, advocating responsive policies, and calling for the stronger community engagement in managing water pollution.

Media involvement is considered important in preventing water pollution as it comprehensively and accurately reports related issues, agreed participants at the event, jointly conducted by the Centre for Environmental and Community Research (CECR) and the Coalition to Advocate for Water Pollution Control and the Clean Water Act.

They highlighted that the media also points out shortcomings in initiatives and collects ideas on possible solutions.

Over the past years, media agencies have brought to light many culprits of water pollution and helped raise public awareness of protecting the environment, they said.

CECR Director Nguyen Ngoc Ly called for further media contributions to counteracting water pollution, especially in lobbying for a law on water pollution management which the Coalition for Clean Water will put forth in 2015.

Participants at the event also reviewed the current status of water pollution in Vietnam, as well as responding measures taken by the country, including the design of a number of regulations and laws.

Vietnam has a large area of inland water surface with about 2,360 rivers and streams, and thousands of lakes and ponds.

However, the country has faced serious water pollution due to economic activities from industrial parks, and trade villages, especially in urban areas.

According to the 2012 national environmental report, about 6 million individuals have been affected by diseases related to water pollution in the past four years, costing the country about 400 billion VND (19 million USD). It continued, estimating resulting damage to the agriculture and aquaculture sectors to reach hundreds of billions of dong each year.

Nearly $2.6 million donated for needy kids

Close to 55 billion VND (2.6 million USD) was donated for needy children during a fund raising programme held in Hanoi on January 24.

The programme, entitled “Mua xuan cho em” (Spring for children), was jointly organised by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, the National Fund for Vietnamese Children (NFVC), and Vietnam Television in honour of the upcoming Lunar New Year (Tet) festival.

Attending the event were Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan, Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Pham Thi Hai Chuyen, and stakeholders contributing to child protection, care, and education over the past year.

Addressing at the event, Minister Chuyen said the Party and State have focused their attention on children, especially those with special needs, providing them with improved living conditions and fostering their development.

In 2014, the NFVC raised over 95 billion VND (4.5 million USD) and assisted more than 86,000 disadvantaged children nationwide, she added.

On the occasion, the organising committee presented 30 Tet gift packages to children with special difficulties.

Toyota Vietnam awards scholarships

Nearly 60 outstanding students from nine universities across northern Vietnam were awarded Toyota Scholarship during a ceremony held in Vinh Phuc province on January 24.

The event was co-organised by the Ministry of Education and Training, the Toyota Vietnam Foundation (TVF), and the Toyota Motor Vietnam Company (TMV).

With a total value of 460 million VND (22,000 USD), the 2014 Toyota Scholarship Programme planned to 115 scholarships, each worth 4 million VND, to outstanding students majoring in engineering and the environment from 16 universities nationwide.

In addition to financial support, the scholarship winners will have a chance to practise at Toyota Vietnam factories or attend training courses on business knowledge.

The TVF was established in 2005 under the partnership between the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the TMV with a view to actively contributing to Vietnam ’s educational and training development, especially in the fields of engineering and environment.

Initiated in 1997, the Toyota Scholarship Programme has awarded over 1,920 scholarships to outstanding students across the country.

Code of conduct discussed to prevent sexual harassment at workplace

Experts were invited to give recommendations on a draft code of conduct designed to prevent sexual harassment at workplaces at a workshop in Ho Chi Minh City on January 23.

Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Pham Minh Huan said sexual harassment in the workplace was first mentioned in the 2012 Labour Code as a prohibited act, but there has been no legal document dealing with this problem in detail. Therefore, it is necessary to build a code of conduct in line with the law and Vietnamese culture, ensuring labourers’ rights and building a healthy and safe working environment, he said.

According to Lisa Wong, a senior expert of the ILO, many countries in the world have already put in place their code of conduct on those behaviours, providing businesses, trade unions and workers themselves with efficient tools to understand and deal with such acts.

Most of the participants agreed that the future code of conduct needs to specify harassment acts and how to deal with and punish such behaviours.

The workshop was held by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

First district and township recognised as new rural areas

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung granted certificates of “new rural district” to Xuan Loc district and Long Khanh township in the southern province of Dong Nai on January 24.

Xuan Loc and Long Khanh are the first district and township in the country that have won the status since the National Target Programme on New Rural Development was launched over 4 years ago.

All communes in Long Khanh and 12 out of 14 communes in Xuan Loc have met 19 criteria for new rural areas.

Xuan Loc District has zoned off separate areas for the cultivation of pepper, corn and local specialty fruit trees using technological advances, generating an average production value of 115.5 million VND (5,500 USD) per hectare.

Three quarters of the local workforce have received vocational training and 90.9 percent of labourers have regular jobs, helping bring average per capital income in the district to 37.6 million VND (1,790 USD) per year, tripling the 2008 level. The rate of poor households is brought down to 1 percent from 7 percent.

Meanwhile, thanks to embracing advanced technologies, the value of agricultural production per ha in Long Khanh township reached 170 million VND (8,100 USD), the highest in Dong Nai.

The yearly average income of local farmers is 38.6 million VND (1,830 USD), more than doubling the 2009 figure, driving down the household poverty rate to below 1 percent.

Among Dong Nai’s 138 communes, 52 have qualified as new rural areas. The province aims to have all its communes achieve the status by 2020.

Addressing the awards ceremony, PM Nguyen Tan Dung asked the province to continue applying technologies in production and offer more incentives for farmers, be it vocational training or finance sourced from the public or business community.

He unveiled that the government will consider providing more funding for the locality during the process.

The National Target Programme on New Rural Development, launched in 2010, sets 19 criteria for new rural areas, covering infrastructure, production, living standards, income and culture, among others. A district must have at least 75 percent of its communes meeting all the 19 cirteria in order to receive the title.

Vietnamese, German farmers’ assoc continue joint work

The Vietnam Farmers’ Union (VFU) and German Farmers’ Association (DBV) have agreed to continue a joint vocational training project between 2015 and 2017.

An agreement to this effect was signed by VFU Chairman Nguyen Quoc Cuong and DBV President Joachim Rukwied in Berlin on January 23.

Under the agreement, 15 teachers from VFU’s vocational training centres and skilled farmers will attend a short-term course in Germany each year.

A specialist information session for VFU’s senior officials will be held annually in Germany while a workshop gathering Vietnamese and German vocational teachers will take place in Vietnam.

By late 2017, at least 30 VFU’s vocational training centres will have one teacher sent to training courses in Germany.

The first stage of the project from 2012 to 2014 benefited scores of Vietnamese vocational teachers and farmers via training sessions and workshops.

German experts also introduced agricultural training models to Vietnamese cities and provinces, said Rukwied.

Job fair introduces employment opportunity in Japanese firms

A job fair took place in the southern province of Dong Nai on January 23, offering an opportunity to local job seekers to find jobs in Japanese firms.

Twenty Japanese enterprises operating in the southern key economic zones attended the event, which was jointly organised by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Lac Hong University.

Suzuki Kyoichi from METI said the fair served as a bridge to connect Japanese firms and Vietnamese students and labourers.

He noted that there is an increasing number of Japanese enterprises invested in Vietnam and they have a great demand for high-quality human resources.

According to Dr. Do Huu Tai, Rector of Lac Hong University, the school is cooperating with a large number of firms operating in the region in training high-quality workforce.

At the event, about 1,000 students registered to take part in recruitment interviews. They were provided with advices on skills needed when working in Japanese companies.

On the occasion, 36 students studying in the Lac Hong University, who finished a training course on Japanese-styled working culture, were presented certificates from the Japanese ministry.

Charity walk held to support poor communities in Ho Chi Minh City

As many as 14,000 people engaged in the 10th Lawrence S.Ting charity walk around Phu My Hung urban area, Ho Chi Minh City's District 7, on January 24, in a bid to lend the local needy a helping hand.

The event has been held annually by the Lawrence S.Ting Community Support Fund of Taiwan.

The charity walk not only contributes to raising donations for disadvantaged people but also promotes an active lifestyle with positive impact on society, said Mai Ba Hung, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

According to the event’s management board, participants donated more than 3 billion VND (139,808 USD), which will be handed over to the Funds for the Poor of District 7, District 8, Nha Be and Binh Chanh Districts. Part of the donations will also go to local sport talents with disadvantaged background.

The Lawrence S.Ting Community Support Fund has organised 10 charity walks thus far, attracting over 134,000 participants and collecting some 20 billion VND (932,053 USD) worth of donations.

Tet tree planting festival launched in Ninh Binh

A Lunar New Year (Tet) tree planting festival was launched in the northern province of Ninh Binh on January 23 with about 30,200 seedlings grown in Nho Quan district.

The seedlings included 30,000 Acacia hybrid and 200 Hopea odorata trees, forming part of a national wildlife park scheduled to open later this year.

At the launching ceremony, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Bui Cach Tuyen called upon those from all walks of life to join efforts towards reforestation and forest protection.

Ninh Binh province plants over 200 hectares of forests every year, raising its forest coverage to 19 percent last year. The rate is expected to increase to 20 percent by the end of 2015.

The Tet tree planting festival is an annual activity initiated by late President Ho Chi Minh in 1959.

Animal health sector works to avert epidemics this year

A key task of the animal health sector this year is to avert disease epidemics among livestock, poultry and aquatic products, especially bird flu, blue-ear, foot-and-mouth, and other animal-to-human diseases, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tam announced at a conference reviewing the Department of Animal Health’s 2014 performance and determining its tasks for 2015 in Hanoi on January 23.

As the Lunar New Year holiday approaches, he asked the department to continue maintaining epidemic-free breeding zones and inspecting units at the grassroots level to facilitate early detections of any violations.

He also admitted that the capability of the animal care network and the breeding skills of farmers across the country still fall short of expectations.

Pham Van Dong, head of the department said that while bird flu and blue-ear hotbeds have been brought under control, foot-and-mouth outbreaks spread across six communes in the northern mountainous province of Son La.

A bird-flu outbreak is expected in the Mekong Delta this year, especially around breeding areas and wet markets.

In 2014, white spot disease, acute hepatopancreatic necrosis syndrome, and environmental pollution impacted over 59,500 hectares of brackish-water shrimp.

So far, 21 cities and provinces nationwide have developed strategies to control possible epidemic threats and outbreaks.-

Poor OVs, Cambodians get free medical check-ups

The Association of Vietnamese in Cambodia , the Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs (COVA)’s HCM City branch and Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine on January 24 provided free medical check-ups and gifts for 500 poor OVs and Cambodian people living in Phnom Penh .

This is an annual activity held by the HCM City authorities to help poor OVs and Cambodian people enjoy a happy Lunar New Year, said Nguyen Thi Hanh, Vice Chairwoman of COVA’s HCM City branch.

It also aims to promote the friendship and solidarity between Vietnam and Cambodia , she added.

Vice Mayor of Phnom Penh’s Chbar Ampov Tek Chani spoke highly of Vietnamese organisations and businesses’ kind-hearted action, considering it a symbol of the friendship and attachment between the two countries.

She said she hopes that Vietnam ’s voluntary groups will continue their humanitarian activities to support poor people in Cambodia .

Over the years, Vietnamese voluntary doctors have conducted a number of visits to deliver free medical check-ups and surgery for the Cambodian poor.

VND4,000 billion for 28 million disadvantaged children

Over the past two decades, the Vietnam Children’s Fund (VCF) has raised more than VND4,000 billion to support more than 28 million disadvantaged children across the country.

The figure was released at the 8th “Spring for Children” Programme held in Hanoi on January 24 with the participation of State Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan and 30 children representing 1.5 million of disadvantaged children in the country.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) Pham Thi Hai Chuyen said the Party and State have adopted a number of guidelines and policies on child protection and care to ensure their comprehensive development.

She acknowledged and appreciated businesses, organisations and individuals’ contribution to the protection and care of children and hoped that more benefactors will join hands to support disadvantaged children.

She added that MoLISA will strictly guide the implementation of social welfare policies and ask VCF to effectively use the donations.

Minister Chuyen presented the Prime Minister’s Certificate of Merit to VCF and MoLISA’s certificates of merit to benefactors for their contribution to the protection and care of children.

The benefactors were received by State Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan on the same day,

The Vietnam Children’s Fund reported that last year it raised more than VND95 billion to support 86,300 disadvantaged children and signed funding agreements worth VND111 billion for the coming years.

This year the Fund aims to mobilise around VND70 billion for 47,000 children with difficulties.

Currently, there are around 2.6 million children in need, Ms.Doan said, hoping that benefactors will continue siding with the VCF to build more schools and help pupils from poor families go to school.

US$170 million in foreign aid goes to health projects

The Government last year inked deals worth nearly US$170 million in official development assistance (ODA) loans and grants with foreign countries and organizations to carry out healthcare projects in the nation.

The Ministry of Health indicated the foreign funding sources for medical equipment, pharmaceutical purchase and training projects in its report on Tuesday.

A US$116 million training project was funded by the World Bank (WB), a US$15 million malaria prevention project by the Global Fund, an US$18.5 million project by the World Health Organization, a financial assistance project worth 114 million euros by the European Union in non-refundable aid, and a Korea-funded project costing US$19 million on medical equipment purchase for the Central Ear-Nose-Throat Hospital.

This year, the Government will continue looking for more grants and ODA loans for projects in the sector. The Government is expected to seek loans from Japan, the WB and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for new hospitals, as well as grassroots clinics and preventive medicine centers in the Mekong Delta.

The projects to be implemented in the health sector in the coming time include the Vietnam-Japan Friendship Cho Ray Hospital project worth US$300 million, human resource development costing US$120 million financed by the WB, and projects on malaria, tubercular, and HIV/AIDS prevention at US$158 million by the Global Fund.  

HCM City collects 3,465 drug addicts

The authorities of HCMC have gathered 3,465 drug addicts less than two months after they launched a major campaign to find drug addicts for sending to their homes and social facilities for treatment, according to the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.

The department’s director Tran Trung Dung told an online conference on January 22 that the drug addicts were found from 5,837 people with signs of drug abuse in the city.

Of the drug addicts, the department has sent home 1,570 who have babies and are teenagers, and brought the remainder to social centers before local authorities have their personal files prepared and carry them to rehabilitation centers.

Dung said the city’s campaign of collecting and sending drug addicts to rehabilitation centers has borne fruit and there are no longer drug addicts at the places which used to be notorious for crimes.

In the coming time, the authorities will focus on detecting drug addicts who usually gather at certain venues at hotels and bars as well as bringing homeless people and beggars to social shelters.

The city targets to clear all drug addicts and beggars in public places before the 40th anniversary of the Reunification Day on April 30 this year.

Seeking easy solution

While the public is exhilarated by the significant fuel price cuts this year, this upbeat sentiment may have been spoiled by possible water price hikes in HCMC.

Saigon Water Corporation (Sawaco) presented a water price increase roadmap for the 2015-2019 period at a conference early this week. The price proposal of Sawaco is still being discussed before being presented to the city government. It has both won some support and has been met with reservations. Sawaco can still work out other ways to find capital for its water supply projects than placing more pressure on the people and enterprises by pushing up prices.

At the conference held by the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of HCMC on Tuesday, Sawaco proposed hiking the water prices by an average of 10.5% annually towards 2019. The reason for such price adjustments, as explained by Sawaco, is to generate capital for its projects like Thu Duc 3 water plant, Tan Hiep 2 water plant and over 1,600 kilometers of water pipeline. The combined capacity of water treatment plants will have to be increased to 3.7 million cubic meters per day by 2025, 2.2 times higher than the current level. The price hike, according to Sawaco, is necessary as investment costs are estimated to account for around 72% of water prices in the next five years.

Sawaco, explaining the necessity of the price hikes at the conference, claimed the proposed spikes in the next five years would not affect the majority of city residents.

To make the case convincing, a representative of Sawaco told the conference that the price increase roadmap takes into account the poor households. This year’s water prices for poor families would be kept unchanged from last year if each family member uses no more than four cubic meters a month. The price increases applicable to these users in the coming years would be smaller than those to other groups of users.

However, higher prices should go together with higher quality. Therefore, participants at the conference asked whether Sawaco could improve the quality of water supplies if the price hike proposal gets the go-ahead or whether the State utility would use extra revenues from the price hikes to offset high water losses.

If prices are revised up to raise funds for covering water losses, this would be unfair to users. According to Nguyen Van Rot, vice chairman of the Fatherland Front Committee of District 2, water losses should not be factored into water prices as users should not pay for what they do not use, Tuoi Tre cites him as saying. Rot added if water prices are to be adjusted up, the increases should be acceptable as consumer prices remain stubbornly high and power prices could continue to rise; otherwise, the living costs would rise though the country has yet to fully recover from the protracted economic malaise.

Sawaco’s explanations failed to convince many participants, who called for the company to cope with water losses. The current ratio of water losses is as high as 32.85%. Therefore, if the firm reduces water losses, participants reasoned, there would be no need to adjust up water prices.

HCMC loses around 550,000 cubic meters of running water a day, worth over VND5.9 billion (with last year’s average price of VND10,767 per cubic meter). However, Sawaco plans to cut the water loss rate to 25% by 2025.

As reported by the Daily on Wednesday, Tran Thien Tu, a member of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee in HCMC, said at the conference that he wants to know how water losses could be reduced. If the water loss rate was slashed to 10%, Sawaco could save an amount that is sufficient to finance a new water treatment plant with a daily capacity of over two million cubic meters of water. With the current huge water losses, Tu cast doubt on the quality and investment efficiency of the pipeline networks.

Lawyer Truong Thi Hoa had the same view, saying if water losses are reduced to 31% this year and 25% in 2020, water prices would not be much increased. Chau Minh Ty from the HCMC Association of the Elderly called for Sawaco to find ways to reduce water losses instead of raising water prices.

All the arguments boil down to the question of what Sawaco should do to slash the water loss rate, instead of looking to the easy and quick solution: raising water prices.

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