HCM City supports families to leave old condo building

The government of HCMC has arranged 40 apartments for the authorities of District 1 to allocate them to the households that will move out of the deteriorating Co Giang apartment building in the same district.

Of the 40 apartments, 20 belong to an apartment building at 212 Nguyen Trai Street of District 1, eight at 360C Ben Van Don Street in District 4, four at 01 Ton That Thuyet Street in District 4 and eight at Pham Viet Chanh apartment building in Binh Thanh District.

The city government told Dat Viet Development JSC to cover all expenses related to the relocation process and step up reconstruction of the old Co Giang apartment building to help the families settle down soon.

The city also told public services companies of district 1, 4 and Binh Thanh to repair and clean up the 40 apartments to make room for the affected families. They will sign contracts with Dat Viet Development JSC.

In the middle of last month, the government of HCMC allowed District 1 to take measures to relocate the households at Co Giang as the apartment building might collapse any time.

The authorities of District 1 reported 36 families in Block D in need of relocation. The city government asked the district to complete the task by the end of this month.

Co Giang, built in 1968, consists of four blocks that are home to over 700 households.

The city worked out a plan to reconstruct the building in 2006 and assigned Dat Viet Development JSC to develop a condo-shopping complex comprising of 300 units for residents of the old building.

In 2011, the city government told competent agencies to demolish the shabby structure to ensure safety for people but hundreds of households still live in the building.

Ninh Thuan prosecutes French national

The Ninh Thuan People's Procuracy yesterday prosecuted a French national for using fake visas to extract money from various automatic teller machines (ATMs).

Nguyen Nicolas, 31, withdrew money from the ATMs of some banks in Phan Rang-Thap Cham City.

Nicolas has admitted to using 23 fake visas to withdraw VND47 million (US$2,200).

Nicolas' file was moved to the provincial People's Committee for the proper treatment of the case.

Vietnam police bust 8 kilos of meth worth $5 mln inside car trunk

Police in the southern province of Binh Duong on June 25 arrested a man who allegedly hid eight kilograms of methamphetamine inside his car's trunk.

Investigators said Nguyen Tien Hung, 36, is a key member in a massive drug trafficking ring which has been operated from different places across the country.

On June 23, police raided his rented house, seizing the synthetic drug packed in 16 bags. The bags were well hidden inside a spare tire in his Honda Accord’s trunk.

Some of the 16 bags of methamphetamine seized by police on June 23.

The street value of the drug is nearly US$5 million.

Hung told the police that he rented the house and two others in the neighborhood, using them as dens for drug gathering and trading.

Police on the same day seized another car of his, a luxury Mercedes, and four safes which they suspected to contain drugs.

Investigators are looking deeper into the case.

New highway records alarming rate of accidents

Some 34 serious accidents killing 31 people occurred on highway No.14 in Tay Nguyen's (Central Highlands) Gia Lai and Dak Lak Provinces in the first half this year.

According to local authorities, in Gia Lai Province alone, 13 severe accidents occurred, causing 16 deaths.

Especially in the past two months, a series of serious accidents happened at the highway section.

The situation is really alarming and calls for attention from relevant offices.

The head of the Transport Department of Gia Lai Province, Nguyen Trung Tam, said the department has directed investors and builders to install signposts on the highway right after the completion of its construction so as to curb traffic accidents.

In addition, the department has organised around-the-clock patrol teams along this highway section to monitor and control speeding vehicles, Tam added.

Gia Lai Province has Highway No. 14 and No.19 passing through the section linking central coastal and Tay Nguyen provinces.

Highway No.14 is a key route linking Gia Lai with neighbouring provinces, so traffic on this section is always busy. Moreover, some sections zigzag as they pass through hills and slopes. These sections are high-risk zones for traffic accidents.

Most accidents occur due to traffic rules violations or drunken driving.

Highway No.14, which is close to completion, will shorten the travel time between Gia Lai and Dak Lak to 1 hour.

Fire destroys storehouse in Dong Nai IZ

A huge fire broke out in a storehouse of Viet Long Packaging Company in Nhon Trach Industrial Zone 3 in Dong Nai Province in the evening of June 25.

The fire broke out at 9pm during a night shift, when more than 100 workers were working there.

According to witnesses, several places in and around the storehouse went up in flames.

As hundreds of tonnes of inflammable materials had been stored there, the fire spread quickly and destroyed the storehouse.

The company's security guards and workers tried to extinguish the fire, but failed.

The provincial firefighting force and navy personnel battled to extinguish the blaze, which was just about brought under control early this morning.

According to initial reports from the company, there were no casualties, but thousands of square metres of the company's storehouse and workshops were destroyed, causing losses amounting to billions of dong.

The cause of the fire is being investigated. 

US servicemen's remains repatriated

Viet Nam gave the US three boxes containing the remains of US servicemen who died during the war in Viet Nam.

A ceremony was held on Wednesday in Da Nang International Airport to mark the repatriation.

The remains were recovered by joint teams during the 119th Joint Field Activities from May to June.

Attending the ceremony on the Vietnamese side were representatives from the Board of Directors of the Viet Nam Office for Seeking Missing Personnel (VNOSMP). On the US side, representatives from the US Consulate General in HCM City, the US Defense Attache Office, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) and the US MIA Office in Ha Noi attended.

The remains were reviewed by Vietnamese and US forensic specialists, who recommended they be sent to Hawaii for further review.

Addressing the ceremony, a US Government representative expressed deep gratitude and appreciation for the steadfast humanitarian policies, goodwill and efficiency of the Vietnamese Government.

The countries are co-operating on seeking the remains of US servicemen who went missing during the war in Viet Nam. This is the 135th handover of American servicemen's remains since 1973. 

WHO formally certifies made-in-Vietnam vaccine

The Ministry of Health June 22 held a ceremony in Hanoi to receive the World Health Organization's formal certification of made-in-Vietnam vaccine.

Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam said that WHO's formal certification of Vietnamese-made vaccine is a big event and a giant progress of the country's health sector in particular and the nation's science industry in general. This also manifests the Ministry of Health’s huge efforts and management agencies and scientists' hard work.

Mr. Dam continued that the Southeast Asian country’s regulatory system for vaccines officially certified by WHO as complying with international standards is a really good start of a long road of scientific research; accordingly, the health sector and scientists should continue having

researches of vaccine to produce more high-quality vaccine to meet international standards in order to protect people’s health especially Vietnamese children.

He added the Ministry of Health should invest much on vaccine researches and  promote commerce to develop and widen markets to sell made-in-Vietnam vaccine.

Dr. Shin Young-soo, Regional Director of WHO’s Western Pacific Region, said that Vietnam now has a fully-equipped national regulatory system that ensures the safety and effectiveness of vaccines they produce and use; accordingly, this is a great result for the regulators, but an even better result for the people of Vietnam, because it confirms that vaccines produced in the country are quality assured to international standards of production, safety, and effectiveness.

This accomplishment should serve as an inspiration to other countries in the Region and the world, said Dr. Shinh Young-soo.

According to WHO, Vietnam is facing a big challenge in developing vaccine industry sector, although if the country can produce vaccine for domestic market or for 1.7 million newborn babies every year under the National Expanded Immunization Program, made-in-Vietnam vaccine will have chance to export.

Moreover, with this achievement, nations in the world will pay more attention to manufacturing vaccine in the Southeast Asian nation where have production plants to meet the international requirements and the national management system to meet WHO’s standard. This is a big progress of Vietnam to contribute to bring made-in-Vietnam vaccine to the world.

The certification is the culmination of over a decade of intensive effort by the National Regulatory Authority (NRA) office to implement a roadmap — developed by national experts, with continuous advice from WHO — to strengthen capacity for regulation of vaccines.

In April of this year, a team of independent experts evaluated the Vietnam NRA for vaccines, and found that it has met all of the WHO criteria for functioning at international standards of excellence.

For the people of Viet Nam it means that vaccines used by Vietnam’s national immunization program are now certified safe and effective. All vaccines under the National Expanded Immunization Program are free of charge, without shortage of supply, available at commune health centers across the country.

Yen Bai: Children raise their voices

The Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs of northern mountainous Yen Bai province, in collaboration with World Vision, organised a children’s forum themed “Listen to the Children’s Voices” on June 25.

Attending the forum were more than 200 local outstanding students, including those from the province’s social sponsoring centres and centres for children with disabilities.

Held every two years, the event aims to provide a forum for children to make their voices heard, meet with their peers and hone their presentation skills.

This year, children from disadvantaged backgrounds raised questions concerning their rights to birth registration, child abuse and building entertainment areas for children, which they hoped to discuss with local authorities.

The organisers expected the forum would raise public awareness of childcare and protection.

Some 23 impoverished children were presented with bicycles while 65 others with excellent academic performance were awarded gift packages worth 1 million VND (45.8 USD) each.

Since 1990, World Vision has implemented a number of relief and development programmes, partnering with the Vietnamese government, other non-governmental organisations and communities.

World Vision Vietnam works for the well-being and protection of children through programmes operated in 15 provinces and cities across the country.

Hoa Sen student wins ‘CEO for one month’ contest

Pham Minh Khoa, a student at Hoa Sen University in HCMC, has received first prize in the “CEO for one month” contest in Vietnam held by Sweden’s employment service provider Adecco Vietnam.

Khoa will be offered an internship course for one month at Adecco Vietnam under the direct guidance of Nicola Connolly, general director of the company, and get paid during the internship.

The company will then rate Khoa and 30 other winners from other countries to choose 10 for its training camp called “CEO for One Month Boot Camp” where the best performer will be selected to work in the CEO position at the group’s headquarters in Sweden for one month.

Under the guidance of Adecco Group’s CEO Alan Dehaze, the “CEO for one month” will learn how to run the corporation which has more than 31,000 employees and made 20 billion euros (US$22.45 billion) in revenue last year.

The “CEO for one month” contest is part of the Adecco Way to Work program held to provide 30 young people from around the world with the opportunity to work and learn from senior staff of a Fortune 500 company and gain experience for their future career.

HCM City to build tunnel near Cat Lai Port

To deal with chronic traffic congestion on a major road leading to Cat Lai Port in District 2, Ho Chi Minh City is seeking approval from the Government to build an overpass and a tunnel there, the Saigon Times Daily reports.

In its recent document submitted to the Government, HCM City proposes implementing the project at My Thuy Roundabout using capital advanced by the investor and paid by the city later. The deferred payment will come with interest.

As proposed, the first phase of the project will consist of an overpass in the direction of Belt Road No. 2 and a tunnel underneath the existing roundabout. The investment cost of phase one is estimated at 770 billion VND (over 35.3 million USD) as no site clearance and compensation are required.

The city wants to pick an investor via a tender to carry out the first phase of the project. The selected investor will have to advance finance for the project and the city will pay later with interest within 2-5 years as other investment formats are not viable.

The city explains in the document that there will be many challenges and legal conditions when implementing the project under the public-private partnership (PPP) format. It is not easy to execute the project under the build-operate-transfer (BOT), build-transfer-lease (BTL),

build-lease-transfer (BLT) and build-transfer (BT) models since the city is copping with budget constraints and lacking in land to embrace the land-for-infrastructure format.

Heavy traffic jams have frequently been seen on the roads leading to Cat Lai Port in the past months, with the most recent jam reported on June 16.

According to the Daily, at a meeting with the Ministry of Transport in the middle of this month, Director of the HCM City Department of Transport Nguyen Thanh Chung said the number of container trucks moving to and from the port had surged since early last month, from 12,000 trucks to 20,000 trucks a day.

Delegation of Laos’ Champasak province visits HCMC

Standing Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Vo Van Thuong yesterday had a warm meeting with a delegation from Laos’ Champasak province on the occasion of its visit to Vietnam.

The Laos’ delegation was led by Chief of Lao Revolutionary People Party Committee of Champasak province Oudomsak Divixay.

At the meeting, Standing Deputy Secretary of the HCMC Party Committee expressed his pleasure at the visiting and working of Champasak delegation to Vietnam.

The city leader hoped that Champasak province and Communist Youth Union in HCMC will continue to organize many activities to strengthen further friendship and hold experience exchanges between the two countries.

Earlier, the Laos’ delegation visited and worked with Executive Committee of Communist Youth Union in Ho Chi Minh City Spanish Red Cross helps the disabled integrate into community

A project sponsored by the Spanish Red Cross has produced meaningful results in helping the disabled to integrate into the community socially and economically.

By providing vocational training, the project not only helps the disabled with means of livelihoods but also brings them out of their shell to be part of the community.

Nguyen Thi Van, in Duc Hoa hamlet, Thanh Tan commune, Thanh Liem district, had defects in her legs, as an after-effect caused by Agent Orange/dioxin. Poverty prevented Van from seeking treatment for her legs.

However, through assistance from the project, in 2014 Van got a free-of-charge operation that eventually recovered her walking ability.

In addition, Van was admitted to a class of lace embroidery, where she learnt how to embroider and then found a job earning her over one million VND each month.

But more importantly, Van is gradually getting rid of her sense of inferiority to integrate herself into the community.

Van said being able to walk is a dream come true and she is now no longer the burden of her family.

Besides Van, around 90 disabled people in Ha Nam province have benefited from the project.

The Ha Nam Red Cross has so far organised five classes of vocational training for the disabled, who were taught to use sewing machines, embroider or make conical hats in a period of seven months.

Nguyen Minh Toan, chairman of the Ha Nam Red Cross, the project is of sustainable and humanitarian significance, helping the disabled to get treatments and jobs, stable incomes, which eventually help them stand on their own feet.

Toan said the association would provide vocational training to around 150 disabled people by the end of 2015.

According to the statistics of the Ha Nam Association of Disabled People, the province has nearly 18,000 disabled people. Of which 1,200 are enjoying regular allowances from the State budget.

Besides that, over 1,000 households with disabled people get financial assistance.

Funds to assist climate change adaption production models unveiled

The coordination board of the Climate Change Adaptation in the Mekong Delta (AMD) project in Tra Vinh organised a conference to introduce the Climate Change Adaption (CCA) fund on June 25.

The goal of the fund is to reduce risks and encourage the application of proper production models and services to yield sustainable incomes for local residents under changing environmental conditions as well as raise climate change adaptation capability among communities.

Huynh Nghia Tho, Director of the board, said from 2015-2019, the CCA Fund will sponsor 28 CCA production models in farming, animal livestock and seafood with a non-refundable aid of 47 billion VND (2.15 million USD).

Qualified models yield high output despite climate change impacts and have been recommended for expansion by the Tra Vinh Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Under the conditions of the fund, organisations and individuals participating in verified production models will be assisted with non-refundable aid up to 50 percent of the total production or business costs.

Households will be provided with a maximum assistance of 30 million VND (1,375 USD) each while maximum loans for groups or teams is up to 750 million VND (34,387 USD).

Of 28 models qualifying for access to the fund, 13 are in farming, seven in animal livestock and eight in seafood aquaculture.

The AMD Tra Vinh project is being implemented from 2014 to 2020 in 30 communes in seven districts with 15,000 impoverished and nearly-impoverished households benefitting from it.

The total investment capital of the project is 521 billion VND (23.88 million USD), a blend of a 233.5 billion VND (10.8 million USD) loan from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a non-refundable aid package of 126.5 billion VND (5.86 million USD), 79.5 billion VND (3.68 million USD) in corresponding capital from the Vietnamese Government and a 81.5 billion VND (3.77 million USD) from beneficiaries.

Vietnam improves PCB management

The results of a PCB (Polychlorinated biphenyls) management initiative reflect Vietnam’s strong commitment to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), stated Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Bui Cach Tuyen at a workshop in Hanoi on June 25.

PCBs are toxic agents commonly founded in the land, water, atmosphere, food and adipose tissue of human and animals. PCBs have been demonstrated to cause cancer and have a variety of other adverse health effects on the immune system, reproductive system, nervous system and endocrine system.

Reviewing the PCB project’s outcome, Tuyen said the project, with the aim to safely manage and discard the chemical, has thus far addressed a number of PCB issues in Vietnam.

According to him, the country did not involve the substance in production but did previously import equipment and petroleum that might contain PCBs.

Vietnam became a member of the Stockholm Convention in 2002 and committed to minimising PCB emissions in the environment, ending PCB usage in equipment and machineries by 2020 and destroying PCBs entirely by 2028. Therefore, imports were halted but it posed a range of

challenges in disposing of materials containing PCBs. At the project outset, there were weak policies and regulation enforcement concerning management of the toxic agent, as well as a low PCB and POP awareness among businesses and the community.

Once the initiative was launched, its steering board inspected 50 state units and analysed almost 48,000 PCB equipment and machineries to indentify dangerous levels to be collected and stored.

Meanwhile, 34 documents were devised and amended, particularly the customs coordination mechanism and nine specifications guiding safe PCB management.

Work begins on water plant in Dong Nai

The southern province of Dong Nai launched the construction of the Thien Tan Water Plant (Phase II) on June 25, which has a designed capacity of 100,000 cubic metres per day.

Of the total investment, worth over 61 million USD, 41 million USD was sourced from the Republic of Korea’s Eximbank loans and the remaining from the local corresponding fund.

According to Vu Van Hoc, Chairman of the Dong Nai Water Supply Construction Co., Ltd- the project investor, the construction is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2017.

He said that once completed, the plant will have a full capacity of 450,000 cubic metres per day.

It will provide water for local livelihoods, production and industrial zones in Bien Hoa City and Vinh Cuu and Trang Bom districts.

The first phase of the Thien Tan Water Plant project, built with the capacity of 350,000 cubic metres per day, was supported by an official development assistance loan worth nearly 40 million USD from the Republic of Korea.

Dinh Quoc Thai, Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said the plant will help promote the local economy and improve livelihoods for residents.

He asked investors and constructors to ensure project progress and follow legal regulations on basic construction management and business operation, adding that the province pledges to facilitate the project’s implementation.

Dam raises food safety issues with foreign donors

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam held a working session on June 24 with representatives of foreign donors and organisations on ensuring food safety and hygiene in Viet Nam.

According to the health ministry's food safety and hygiene department, in recent years, food safety issues have received special attention from the Vietnamese party, government and National Assembly.

In early 2012, the Prime Minister approved a National Strategy on Food Safety for the 2011-2020 period, with a vision towards 2030. The strategy aims to equip 70 per cent of the food farmers, processors and businessmen, 80 per cent of managers and 79 per cent of consumers

with knowledge about food safety, and thus adopt corresponding actions by 2015. It also sets the target that all localities should establish foodsafety management systems, and that all supermarkets and half of the wet markets should be monitored for food safety and hygiene.

However, Deputy PM Dam told the delegates that 80 per cent of the food sold in small markets was yet to receive full quarantine, while many farmers lacked knowledge about using fertilisers, pesticides and growth stimulants.

Therefore, he stressed the importance of narrowing the gap in quality between products sold in supermarkets and markets, controlling the smuggling of pesticides and growth stimulants, and reorganising food production and distribution systems in markets.

For the long term, Viet Nam should speed up the development of a distribution system of supermarket chains and supply chains of farmers, while for the short term, the country should continue installing mobile food-testing machines in markets, he said.

The Deputy PM also asked the ministries of health, agriculture and rural development, and industry and trade to co-operate in improving the efficiency of food safety and hygiene quarantine centres and labs.

Agreeing with his opinion, representatives of foreign donors and organisations hoped for closer coordination between ministries and sectors to ensure the quality and progress of ODA projects and programmes related to food safety and hygiene.

Driver suspended for putting on socks, shoes while steering passenger bus

A driver working for a passenger bus company in the northern Vietnamese city of Hai Phong believes that having his socks and shoes properly put on is more important than keeping the steering wheel in the right and safe position.

The man, whose name has not been released by his employer, was captured neglecting the hand wheel to focus on wearing his socks and shoes in a video clip that went viral on the Internet earlier this week.

The driver was wearing the uniform of Hoang Long Co., a local firm that offers long-haul bus services.

There were around 40 passengers on board the bus filled with electronic music when the driver performed the shoe-wearing stun, according to the video seen by Tuoi Tre News.

The driver occasionally used his left hand to adjust the steering wheel whereas his assistant showed no response at the time.

A Hoang Long Co. representative confirmed to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Wednesday one of its employees is the man in the viral footage, filmed by one of the passengers who were shocked to witness the negligence of a man whose hands they all put their lives in.

Vu Duc Hoang, deputy director of Hoang Long Co., said the company had been informed of the case and disciplined the driver even before the video was posted on social networks.

Hoang said the driver had been identified as carrying passengers from Hai Phong to the southern coastal city of Vung Tau on June 16, when he was filmed.

He was traveling on a road with a speed limit of 40 kph and did not violate any traffic rules except for the act that threatened the safety of those aboard, Hoang added.

“We knew of the case later the same day thanks to footage from the surveillance camera installed in the bus,” he said.

“We reprimanded the driver by telephone immediately and told him that he would be punished.”

The driver was suspended for 15 days by Hoang Long Co. on June 21, when he returned to Hai Phong, Hoang said.

“We are completing a report on that case to submit to the National Board for Traffic Safety,” he said.

Hoang Long Co. director Vu Van Tuyen was quoted by Dan Viet newswire as saying on Wednesday that the company had also identified the passenger who filmed the footage.

“We will reward this passenger VND5 million [US$230] for exposing the safety rule violation of our driver,” he said.

More poor kids with heart defects to get free care

It is expected that 200 to 1,000 children with congenital heart defects living in 16 remote provinces in the north of Vietnam will receive free cardiac care at mobile medical outreach clinics of the 5th “FedEx Delivers Heartbeats” program.

The program is being organized by FedEx Express, the world’s largest express transportation company and a subsidiary of FedEx Corp., and Heartbeat Vietnam, an initiative of the VinaCapital Foundation. A ceremony was held in HCMC’s District 1 on June 24 to mark the 5th year of the program.

Leading cardiologists from HCMC, Hanoi and Danang will facilitate each two-to-four-day clinic to provide free cardiac care for children, including diagnostic testing, treatment, and even placement on the cardiac surgery waiting list if necessary.

Children who receive surgeries through Heartbeat Vietnam can access the free clinics for their post-operative care to avoid numerous and costly trips to hospitals in HCMC, Danang or Hanoi.

“Most of the children seen at the clinics come from impoverished families who can’t afford proper treatment or a trip to the cities for diagnosis. By taking the doctors to them, we have found over 5,000 children who might never have been diagnosed,” said Robin King Austin, CEO/executive director of the VinaCapital Foundation.

Nguyen Duy Binh, senior manager of Indochina and chief representative of FedEx Vietnam, said after seeing the positive impact made by FedEx Delivers Heartbeats to the lives of so many children in rural Vietnam, “we are more committed than ever to support the program.”

According to Rena Bitter, U.S. consul general in HCMC, the American people have a proud tradition of giving back to their communities. “We understand that government simply cannot meet all needs – this tradition of giving back extends to our private sector where our most successful businesses, like FedEx, are also good neighbors,” she said.

“FedEx understands as do all Americans that no individual, no company, can truly thrive unless the community in which they live also thrives. That is just one of the many reasons we are fortunate that FedEx is working here in Vietnam. In addition to providing jobs, training employees in new skills and helping Vietnam integrate with the global economy, FedEx is committed to the wider community.”

Last year, FedEx Delivers Heartbeats brought 26 mobile medical outreach clinics to 13 provinces and 17 districts across Vietnam, delivering

free healthcare services to 6,103 children, 426 of whom needed to have heart surgery soon. This year’s program will extend its reach to 16 provinces in Vietnam, focusing mainly on highland areas in northern Vietnam.

Since 2011, FedEx Delivers Heartbeats has sent 1,240 medical staff to 51 districts in 34 provinces. The medical teams have provided cardiac care to 29,139 children, offering free diagnosis including 18,205 cardiac ultrasounds, 1,399 post-operative checkups and counseling.

Work-related lung diseases affect workers

Nearly 28,000 people suffer from occupational diseases in Vietnam, reports released at a recent scientific conference on lung cancer and work-related lung diseases in Hanoi.

The number could be higher, the reports said at the conference organised by the National Lung Hospital on June 24, adding there were six work-related lung diseases.

Health insurance covers 30 work-related diseases. Pneumoconiosis was the most common disease, comprising 74 percent of the total.

Work-related respiratory diseases rank second, comprising 32 percent of the total, followed by noise pollution-related health problems, with 17 percent.

Nearly two million workers, or nearly four per cent of the country's workers, underwent health examination in 2012, the Ministry of Health said.

Experts from the National Lung Hospital said there should be focus on occupational diseases of the lungs and the bronchial tube, as early detection would limit the impact of the diseases.

The country does not have any clinics or hospitals for treating workers suffering from work-related lung diseases.

Workers in the mining, building materials and mechanical sectors can get pneumoconiosis, the ministry said.

Workshop reviews malaria prevention for migrants

A workshop was held in the southern province of Binh Phuoc on June 24 to review a survey on migration fluctuation and malaria prevention for migrants in the locality.

The event was organised by the World Health Organisation, the International Organisation for Migration, the Ho Chi Minh City’s Institute of Malaria and Parasitology and the provincial Centre for Preventing Malaria.

Survey results collected by the research group on malaria and parasitic diseases in Bu Dang, Bu Gia Map and Bu Dop districts showed increasing migration fluctuation, especially in border areas.

The number of migrants in Binh Phuoc accounts for one-third of the country’s total migrant population, who are mainly seasonal labourers.

Experts said the number of people suffering from malaria is on the rise as is migration.

Occupational characteristics, living and working environments and unhealthy lifestyles have led to a surge of malaria cases in the country with 1,058 cases recorded in the first six months of this year.

At the workshop, participants in charge of malaria prevention in researched areas in Binh Phuoc shared difficulties in running communication campaigns and providing healthcare services to local migrants, especially in remote areas.

They asked the research group to design more effective measures to better manage and communicate.

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