Hà Nội aims to strengthen safe food supply chains

A hydroponic lettuce garden in the southern province of Tiền Giang. Applying high-tech methods to agricultural production is one of the measures to ensure safe food supply implemented among Hà Nội and other localities. 

Authorities in Hà Nội will implement more measures to strengthen safe vegetable and meat supply chains for its residents, said vice chairman of the city’s People’s Committee Nguyễn Văn Sửu.

He made the statement at a conference on evaluating the city’s efforts to develop the chains this year, which took place in Hà Nội last week.

Speaking at the conference, Sửu praised the city’s launching of an electronic system to track the origins of agricultural products as one of its highest achievements in terms of ensuring food safety for its residents.

“[The system] created a platform that connects farmers, enterprises, and State’s supervisors and helped ensure safe consumption,” he said.

The city’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development had also collaborated well with other localities in terms of poultry disease prevention and quarantine, ensuring they follow the best practices in slaughtering and meat handling, he added.

According to the department, Hà Nội residents consume an average of 7,000 tonnes of agricultural, forestry and aquatic products per month.

While the city’s pork and chicken supply has managed to meet demand, a large amount of other products such as rice, beef and seafood are imported from other provinces and countries.

The situation calls for the development of safe food supply chains that link the city with those providers.

Some of the measures that are going to be implemented from now until 2020 include developing safe and high-tech vegetable growing areas, and applying organic farming methods in agricultural production.

Some 543 safe food supply chains have been created among Hà Nội and 21 localities this year, an increase of 166 chains compared to 2017. About 120 of them were initiated and sustained by the capital city itself.

Apart from the achievements, some shortcomings of agricultural production remained.

Some production areas had not been working at full capacity. Some localities failed to invite enterprises to take part in production.

Some others failed to have proper control of slaughtering activities and of the issuance of certificates of animal quarantine.

Contest honours innovative ideas from community

Winners of the 2018 Community’s Ideas receive awards. 

The interesting teaching method adopted by Lê Thiên Phúc, a teacher of biology and technology at Phú Nhuận High School in HCM City, is making lessons exciting for students compared to the traditional theory-based lessons.

His method, based on the principles of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics), won the first prize in a contest this year titled Community’s Ideas, which encouraged individuals and organisations to come up with innovative technology ideas, products and solutions for the city’s socio-economic development.

With Phúc’s method, his students experience food processing and cooking, which they had never done before at home or school.

Students are learning how to recognise food and vegetables contaminated by chemicals and poisonous substances and how to grow organic vegetables.

Information about nutrients such as proteins, lipids, vitamins, and minerals in vegetables and fruits is taught.

And then students make video clips to introduce the processing and cooking of food to present their dishes.

This teaching method trains students to co-ordinate with each other and work effectively in teams. Every student develops their capacity through this learning method.

The contest also honoured 13 other individuals and groups of students for their innovative ideas with prizes in various categories.

They included Lý Nhơn Thành, a safeguarder in Nguyễn Thái Bình Ward in District 1, who was honoured for his ideas for getting loans from banks to make mini firefighting vehicles for use in small alleys in his district.

Trần Vân Trang and Bùi Minh Nguyệt, ninth graders at Phan Tây Hồ Secondary School in Gò Vấp District, won a prize for inventing a method to make paper from waste lotus pods, which are environment-friendly.    

It was the third year the contest was organised by Khám Phá (Discovery) magazine together with the city Department of Science and Technology’s Grassroots Level Science Management Division.

Bùi Văn Quyền, vice chairman of the Việt Nam Invention Association, said: “Innovation and invention are currently occurring in society and their practicability is high.

“These winners’ inventions prove this.” 

Exhibition marks 60th anniversary of President Kim II-Sung's visit to Vietnam

Visitors at the photo exhibition (Photo: dantri.com.vn) 

A photo exhibition entitled "Vietnam- the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) friendship" was launched at the Ho Chi Minh Museum in Hanoi on December 26 to mark the 60th anniversary of DPRK President Kim II-Sung's visit to Vietnam.

The event, which was jointly held by the Ho Chi Minh Museum and the DPRK Embassy in Vietnam, is also an activity to celebrate the 69th anniversary of the Vietnam-DPRK diplomatic ties.

The exhibition showcases nearly 80 photographs featuring important milestones in the Vietnam-DPRK diplomatic relations, which were established by President Ho Chi Minh and President Kim Il-Sung and nurtured by generations of leaders and peoples of both countries.

The exhibition focuses on three topics, with the first topic on the diplomatic visits by President Ho Chi Minh and President Kim Il-Sung in 1957, 1958 and 1964.

The second topic features the diplomatic relations and milestones in the bilateral relationship since the establishment of the diplomatic ties in 1950.Meanwhile, the third topic introduces images about the DPRK and its achievements in present times.

Addressing the event, DPRK Ambassador to Vietnam Kim Myong Gil said that the exhibition is animportant political and cultural activity to review milestones on the bilateral relations between the two countries, contributing to consolidating the friendship and mutual understanding between the two peoples.

Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Quang Vinh also spoke highly of the exhibition,while expressing his wish for strengthened bilateral relations in all areas.

The event will run until January 1, 2019.

Joint operation of natural disaster early warning system tested

The conference in Hanoi on December 26 

A video conference was held on December 26 to test how relevant governmental agencies coordinate to operate the country’s natural disaster early warning system in response to a tsunami.

The agencies involved in the exercise included the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, the Institute of Geophysics, the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting (NCHMF) and the Steering Committees for Natural Disaster Prevention and Search and Rescue in Quang Nam and Da Nang.

The exercise was based on a scenario in which Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre and the Northwest Pacific Tsunami Advisory Centre issue warnings of tsunami waves of 1.5 – 7 metre high for the East Sea areas, including the coast of Vietnam, at 8:45am on December 26.

In Vietnam, the worst-hit areas are shores from Da Nang to Quang Ngai which are struck by waves of more than 5 metres between 10:30am and 12:30am.

Upon receiving the warnings, the Institute of Geophysics sends three reports on the tsunami to on-duty officials via text messages and provides direct broadcast of tsunami information via the multipurpose natural disaster early warning system installed at 30 stations along Da Nang’s coast to request immediate evacuation.

The multipurpose natural disaster early warning system has been developed by military-run telecom group Viettel.

The government has installed a tsunami early warning system at high-risk areas in 13 coastal cities and provinces across the country since 2012 with the first phase of the project being piloted in Da Nang and Quang Nam. So far, 51 alert stations have been installed, including 30 in Da Nang and 21 in Quang Nam.

Social network etiquette for journalists released

VJA Permanent Vice President Ho Quang Loi

The Vietnam Journalists’ Association (VJA) has publicized social network rules for journalists, highlighting the four do’s and eight don’ts for them.   

Accordingly, journalists should use their accounts on social networks to interact with one another, share and post information that serves interests of the society and the nation, and comment on issues of public concern in a correct, cultural and responsible manner. 

They should inform competent agencies about wrongful information spread on social networks, which adversely impacts and harms interests of the community and the country, as well as prestige of organisations and individuals. 

The rules allow journalists to detect, verify and use information about new social issues to serve their job. 

However, they must not violate regulations on managing, supplying and using information on social networks, on data and document security as well as personal information protection, and other regulations of the laws.

Journalists must not post and remove articles, photos and audio articles on social networks for extortion or other ill purposes. 

The rules ban journalists from posting articles, photos and audio articles on social networks, sharing their comments and viewpoints or quoting speeches and opinions against guidelines and policies of the Party and State, the contents of the articles they have written and published, and viewpoints of their agencies.

They must avoid commenting and sharing information that aims to incite the public to go against complex and sensitive politic, economic, cultural and social issues, as well as those regarding national defence and security, and diplomatic affairs that need positive, constructive response  and consensus of the community. 

Copying, sharing and spreading articles, audio articles and photos collected illegally are also prohibited.

Journalists must not publicize unverified information that may cause unrest among the public as well as losses to socio-economic activities, and hinder the operation of State agencies or on-duty officials. They must not also physically harm citizens and negatively affect their dignity, incite violence and support a lifestyle of debauchery, superstition, bad behaviors and discrimination in genders, regions, ethnic groups and races. 

Journalist must avoid vulgar description of obscene cases and crimes, and information unsuitable with traditional culture and morality. 

They must not use logos, photos and data of the VJA and use the name of the association to participate in forums and social networks without permission. 

The social network rules will create positive changes in press activities in Vietnam, said VJA Permanent Vice President Ho Quang Loi in an interview with the Vietnam News Agency right after the release of the etiquette. 

He highlighted journalists’ responsibility for providing and orienting information and guiding public opinions, saying any wrongful opinion and act by journalists on social networks would cause great harm to the community and the society.

Gender inequality increases in Ha Nam

Gender inequality at birth has increased in the northern province of Ha Nam in recent years, according to the provincial Office of Population and Family Planning. 

The office reported that the sex ratio at birth was 112.7 boys to 100 girls in 2016, 112.8 boys to 100 girls in 2017, and 113.6 boys to 100 girls in 2018. 

Gender imbalance among newborns happen in six districts and city, mostly in Binh Luc district with 118.8 boys to 100 girls, followed by Ly Nhan district with 114.6 boys to 100 girls. Notably, it becomes alarming in Thanh Nguyen commune, Thanh Liem district (175.7 boys to 100 girls); Chau Son commune, Phu Ly city (166.7 boys to 100 girls); An Lao commune, Binh Luc district (163 boys to 100 girls); and Bac Ly commune, Ly Nhan district (160.7 boys to 100 girls). 

Ta Thi Hoa, head of the office, said masculine ideology remains popular in many households while technologies intervening in the choice of gender at birth have developed, resulting in ineffective control of the issue. 

There are over 12,900 newborn babies in the locality this year, 1,800 of them are third children, accounting for 14 percent of the total, up 3.76 percent year-on-year. 

Hoa said the office will continue stepping up the implementation of Resolution No.21-NQ/TW on population work in the new situation, and spread the motto “Each family should give birth to two children”. 

It will also launch a project on controlling gender inequality for the 2016-2025 period, monitoring the supply of family planning services, and inspecting printing establishments to promptly discover violations regarding publications guiding the choice of gender at birth.

Dong Nai fulfils new-style rural area building targets

Local residents build rural roads in Dong Nai province (Photo: www.baodongnai.com.vn)

All 133 communes of 11 districts and cities in southern Dong Nai province have been recognised as new-style rural areas, local officials said.

Thanh Son commune of Dinh Quan district, along with Tan Phu and Dinh Quan districts and Bien Hoa city were the last localities in Dong Nai province to receive the title.

Tan Phu and Dinh Quan are mountainous districts. Under the national target programme on building new-style rural areas, local people have joined hands to build infrastructure and develop rural transport systems.

To date, all roads in the districts have been concreted, while Tan Phu and Dinh Quan record annual per capita incomes of 51 million VND (2,190 USD) and 49 million VND (2,100 USD), rising 3.5 times and 1.8 times compared to 2011, respectively.

Meanwhile, the poverty rate in Dong Nai province dropped to 0.31 percent from 6.22 percent previously.

The National Target Programme on New-style Rural Area Building, initiated by the Vietnamese Government in 2010, sets 19 criteria on socio-economic development, politics, and defence, aiming to boost rural regions of Vietnam.    

The list of criteria includes the development of infrastructure, the improvement of production capacity, environmental protection, and the promotion of cultural values.     

According to the Central Coordination Office for the Programme, as of the end of the first quarter of 2018, 3,289 communes nationwide earned the recognition as new style rural areas, up 220 communes compared to the end of 2017.

Forty-eight districts in 26 centrally-run cities and provinces were recognised as new-style rural areas.

Photo exhibition on Vietnam, China’s beauty opens in Hanoi

At the opening ceremony

A photo exhibition showcasing the charm of nature, people and people in Vietnam and China opened in Hanoi on December 26 in celebration of the 10th establishment anniversary of the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two nations.

The exhibition was jointly held by the Vietnam Pictorial of the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) and a magazine of the Guangxi Broadcasting Service (GXBS) of China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Editor-in-chief of the Vietnam Pictorial Nguyen Thang said the Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership has maintained positive growth over the years, with their political, diplomatic and economic relations being strengthened continuously.

Press agencies of Vietnam and China have always cooperated and assisted each other to fulfil their tasks, he noted, adding that the exhibition serves as proof of effective collaboration between the Vietnam Pictorial and the GXBS.

The event is hoped to further enhance mutual understanding between the people of Vietnam and China, as well as deepen the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, thereby contributing to regional and international peace, cooperation, friendship and development, Thang added.

The exhibition features 100 outstanding photos which show off the beauty of landscapes, people and development of the two countries as well as China’s Guangxi and Vietnam’s northern province of Quang Ninh province in particular.

In 2018, Quang Ninh is hosting the National Tourism Year, while the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region marks its 60th founding anniversary. 

The photo exhibition runs through December 31.

Red Sunday blood donation campaign starts in capital Hanoi

Bui Phuong Nga (centre), the runner-up of Miss Vietnam 2018, donates blood at the launching ceremony of the Red Sunday blood donation festival in Hanoi 

A blood donation drive was launched on December 26 in Hanoi, expected to collect about 50,000 blood units during the 2019 Chu Nhat Do (Red Sunday).

The annual event is organised by Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper, the National Steering Committee on Traffic Safety and the National Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusions (NIHBT).

The event was first held in 2008 for one Sunday in Hanoi, hence the name.

The campaign is an effort to ease the blood supply shortage in hospitals throughout the country during the Tet (lunar New Year) holidays. 

The one-month long event will take place in 39 provinces and cities across the country with nearly 70 blood collection events, including the main festival in Hanoi on January 6, 2019. Many localities have registered to collect thousands of blood units such as Hanoi (6,000), HCM City (3,000) and Dak Lak (3,800).

Speaking at press conference on December 26 in Hanoi, NIHBT director Dr Bach Quoc Khanh said the need of blood for emergency and treatment at hospitals increases during the last months of the year.

“From the beginning of December, many blood transfusion centres, especially in Hanoi and HCM City, have announced blood shortages and called on the community for help,” said Khanh.

“Red Sunday has played an important role in health care activities of the health sector, especially in handling blood shortages during summer and Tet periods,” said Khanh.

Khanh said that in January 2019, the country would need 150,000 units of blood for medical treatment.

The newspaper’s editor in chief Le Xuan Son said that Red Sunday aimed to promote voluntary blood donation and change thinking about blood donation.

“It (Red Sunday) mobilises volunteers to donate blood for emergency, treatment before, during and after Tet at all health facilities throughout the country,” said Son.

According to Son, blood collection from Red Sunday events has increased remarkably over the past five years, from 8,419 units in 2014 to 47,766 units in 2018. More than 123,000 blood units were collected over the past 10 Red Sunday events.

The NIHBT statistics showed that the country has collected 1.4 million units of blood nationwide, equivalent to 1.6 percent of population to donate blood in 2018. Collected blood has met over 60 percent of the country’s demand of blood for emergency, examination and reservation.

Exhibition introduces Da Lat’s achievements throughout history

Visitors to the exhibition at Lam Vien Square (Photo: nhandan.com.vn)

Economic, cultural and social achievements of Da Lat city in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong, throughout its 125-year history are being introduced at an exhibition which opened at Lam Vien Square on December 26.

Visitors to the exhibition will have a chance to get a close look at the woodblocks from the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945) – part of the Memory of the World Register, and the documents written in French during the French colonial rule.

Artworks about people and socio-economic aspects of Da Lat and Lam Dong, along with books and documents about local medical and educational attainments are also on display.

The exhibition, organised by the Da Lat People’s Committee, also showcases vegetables and flowers produced in local hi-tech farms.

On December 25, the Lam Dong Centre for Culture and Arts also opened an exhibition of nearly 1,000 mementos owned by Da Lat residents that aims introduce local culture to visitors from across Vietnam and other countries.

Mountainous residents call for upgrade to suspension bridges

As a mountainous locality which is home to many rivers and streams, Song Ma district, Son La province has several suspension bridges that local residents use daily. However, after years of use, many bridges have become dilapidated.

At present, there are six bridges spanning over the Ma River and 93 bridges across streams. Of the 93 bridges over streams, 80 bridges are in bad condition.

Annual maintenance is carried out. However, as many bridges have been built for a long time, they are no longer safe. The cost to fix these bridges is huge.

The upgrade and repair of suspension bridges is very important, helping ensure safety for local residents and meeting their increasing demand for transportation in the mountainous region.

First football tourney for disadvantaged children slated for 2019

The first football tournament for disadvantaged children nationwide is set to take place in 2019 

The first football tournament for disadvantaged children nationwide is set to take place in 2019, heard a press briefing in Hanoi on December 26.

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA), the National Fund for Vietnamese Children (NFVC), the Ministry of Education and Training, and the Vietnam Football Federation will co-organise the event. 

The tournament is expected to see the participation of 60 teams, said MoLISA Deputy Minister Nguyen Thi Ha.

Ha affirmed that the Party and State always pay special attention to the care, protection and education of children, especially those who live in disadvantaged areas.

Meanwhile, the 12th edition of a programme “Mua xuan cho em” (Spring for Children) will be held on January 6 next year, announced NFVC Director Hoang Van Tien. 

Organisations and individuals who have provided support for disadvantaged children in 2018 will also be honoured at the event.

After 11 years, the programme has raised hundreds of billions of VND to support needy children across the country.

During its 26 years of operation, the NFVC has mobilised nearly 6.5 trillion VND (279 million USD) to assist more than 30 million disadvantaged children nationwide.

Hai Phong to complete reservoirs to control water shortage

The northern port city of Hai Phong is urgently working on clean water reservoirs in Cat Hai island district to combat waster shortage.

This year, Cat Ba tourism town in the district was short of water in 34 days and had to buy clean water from other areas.

One reason for the shortage was that after the Dinh Vu-Cat Hai bridge was completed, tourists going to Cat Ba tourism town increased sharply. In May this year, the town received 385,000 tourists, an increased by more than 60 percent compared with the same period last year. Another factor was the lack of rainfall during the summer.

Chairman of the Hai Phong People’s Committee Nguyen Van Tung asked the Cat Hai district People’s Committee to speed up its work of completing Phu Long reservoir in Phu Long commune.

The municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development was requested to complete reservoirs in Xuan Dam and Tran Chau communes. The reservoirs are expected to open for public use by the beginning of next year.

Other reservoirs which are already in Cat Ba will be widened to store water for the dry season.

The Hai Phong Water Joint Stock Company will set up a project of upgrading water supply system for the island. One option being considered was taking clean water from Cat Hai district via Lach Huyen port.

Hoang Trung Cuong, Vice Chairman of the Cat Hai district People’s Committee, said from June 7 to July 10 this year, the Hai Phong Water Joint Stock Company transported about 900cu.m of water to Cat Ba town per day.

This year, Cat Hai district conducted different temporary measures including digging more wells or fixing others, installing a system to treat sea water, and giving education to local residents on saving clean water, especially during dry season.

Cat Ba island is one of the world network of biosphere reserves, and the biggest tourism site in Hai Phong port city. More than 2.5 million tourists visited this year, of whom 608,000 are foreigners. It is forecast that the number of tourists will continue to rise in the coming years.

Outcome-based methodologies improve medical school training

Around 170 foreign and local professors and lecturers at medical schools are attending an international seminar about teaching methods in HCM City from Dec 26-28. 

Outcome-based education (OBE) and competency-based education (CBE) are two teaching methodologies that should be used to enhance programme quality at medical universities and colleges in Việt Nam, experts have said.

Speaking at a seminar on December 26 on improving the quality of medical education programmes, Nantana Sirisup of the ASEAN Medical Education Alliance said that OBE is based around goals or outcomes to be achieved by the end of each course.

With CBE, students demonstrate that they have learned knowledge and skills as they progress in their studies.

“Developing educational strategies can help create professional and skilled medical graduates,” she said.

The three-day seminar in HCM City was organised by the ASEAN Medical Education Alliance and HCM City University of Medicine and Pharmacy, with 170 domestic and foreign medical professors and lecturers attending.  

Sirisup said the criteria for an outcome or competency framework should be clear, unambiguous and intuitive to the users.

"Medical teachers should identify programme learning outcomes which reflect the vision and mission of the institution and core competencies of your schools,” she said.

Teachers should pay attention to levels of outcomes, including exit outcomes (effective communication), phase outcomes (if appropriate), yearly outcomes (communicating with patients and their relatives, including bad news), course outcome (subject or discipline), and unit outcomes (lesson plan).

“You should identify learning outcomes of your courses based on the exit outcomes of the programme, and sequence the content related to the outcomes,” Sirisup said.  

Outcome-based curriculum (OBC) and competency-based curriculum (CBC) were also discussed, as well as evaluation of the clinical learning environment with the Clinical Learning Environment, Supervision and Nurse Teacher (CLES + T) scale for nursing training.