A/H1N1 flu patient in Ba Ria Vung Tau discharged from hospital

The first patient infected with A/H1N1 in the southern province of Ba Ria Vung Tau was discharged from hospital on June 8, according to Ba Ria Hospitalx.

Doctor Pham Trung Thao, head of the infection department at Ba Ria Hospital, said the department admitted Mr N.M.K from Chau Duc district on June 4, as he was showing typical symptoms of coughing, high fever, running nose, and fatigue.

According to a preliminary report, the patient took his wife for a medical check-up and treatment at Tu Du hospital in HCM City, where there had been an outbreak of A/H1N1 influenza. The hospital suspected that the patient contracted A/H1N1 flu while in attendance.

Ba Ria hospital provided a medical check-up and treated the patient in isolation. The patient tested positive for A/H1N1 flu but there were no serious complications. After four days of treatment, the patient had recovered to a healthy condition and was discharged from hospital on June 8.

People are advised to go to hospital immediately if they suspect that they are infected with A/H1N1, so that can receive timely treatment to avoid any further complications and the possibility of death.

Action month launched to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission

A medical worker gives advice to an HIV patients 

June 2018 has been selected as the action month to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission, Hoang Dinh Canh, deputy head of the Health Ministry’s Department of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control, said on June 7. 

The purpose of the action month is to promote the involvement of the entire political system and people in reducing the rate of mother-to-child HIV transmission to below 2 percent by 2020.

It is expected to help complete the target of 90 percent of pregnant women given anti-retroviral treatment in 2018, and all babies born to mothers with HIV receiving early HIV diagnosis.

The campaign also aims to raise the awareness of people from all walks of life, especially pregnant women and spouses of people with HIV, of the benefits of early HIV testing.

Activities held during the month also look to reduce discriminations against HIV-infected pregnant women and their children.

Throughout the month, services to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission will be stepped up, including expanding HIV testing for pregnant women, and providing anti-retroviral drugs for HIV-infected women. 

The Ministry of Health’s Maternal and Child Health Department reported that the rate of HIV infection among the country’s two million pregnant women every year is 0.25 percent.

Pregnant women living in districts reported to be HIV hotbeds in 32 provinces and cities will be tested for HIV. All those who are confirmed HIV positive will be given long-term anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment. 

Vietnam is aiming to keep the rate of new HIV/AIDS infections below 0.3 percent, while reducing the impact of HIV/AIDS on socio-economic development. 

Vietnam saw decreases in the number of new HIV infections, people living with AIDS and AIDS-related fatalities for the tenth consecutive year in 2017, according to the Ministry of Health.

More than 209,400 people are living with HIV nationwide, including more than 90,100 cases of HIV developing into full-blown AIDS, and about 94,600 people have died of HIV/AIDS so far. The country’s HIV/AIDS prevalence among the population remains below 0.3 percent.

Last year, the country recorded about 9,800 people newly infected with HIV and 1,800 deaths due to HIV, down 1.1 percent and 15 percent, respectively, from 2016. The number of people contracting AIDS also declined by 39 percent.

Language department contributes to Vietnam-Argentina ties: Ambassador

Vietnamese students make Chung cake together (Illustrative photo: VNA)

An exchange with lecturers and students of the Spanish Studies Department of Hanoi University was held in Hanoi on June 7 by the Argentine Embassy in Vietnam to honour the educational facility’s contributions to promoting the language and culture of Spanish speaking countries, including Argentina.

At the event, Argentine Ambassador to Vietnam Juan Carlos Valle Raleigh noted that the event was part of activities to mark the 45th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and Argentina (October 25, 1973 – 2018). The two countries have great potential to deepen bilateral relations, the ambassador added.

Two-way trade increased to more than three billion USD in 2017, doubling in five years and making Argentina Vietnam’s second biggest trade partner in Latin America.

Meanwhile, Vietnam is the second leading market in Asia and the fourth global exporting market of Argentina.

Founded in 2004, the Spanish Studies Department currently has more than 200 students. With 442 million users, Spanish is the second-most spoken language, after Mandarin Chinese and among the six official languages of the United Nations.

Da Nang: Children get free eye surgeries

Children at an orphanage in Da Nang

The Fred Hollows Foundation (FHF) from Australia, in collaboration with the Opthalmology hospital of Da Nang, will provide free eye surgeries for 50 children in the city and an eye screening programme. 

Besides, the project worth 724 million VND (32,000 USD) will help upgrade the HMIS hardware in hospital’s information system. It is being carried out from now to the end of this year.

In 2016, the FHF provided eye check-ups and glasses for more than 90 students in Da Nang. the programmes was part of an eye care for school children in Vietnam launched from early 2016 in Da Nang city, Hai Duong and Tien Giang provinces by FHF and Standard Chartered Bank.

The FHF was founded in 1992 by eye surgeon Fred Hollows, and focuses on treating and preventing blindness and other vision problems. It operates across the Pacific region, including Australia, South and Southeast Asia, and Africa.

Ceremony honouring outstanding blood donors held in Ninh Binh

At the “journey to the Hoa Lu ancient capital” ceremony to honour 100 outstanding blood donors 

The National Steering Committee for Voluntary Blood Donation and the Ninh Binh province chapter of the Vietnam Red Cross Society held a ceremony on June 7 in Ninh Binh province to honour 100 outstanding blood donors.

The event also kicked off a series of activities organised in the framework of the 6th Red Journey, a nationwide blood donation communication campaign. 

At the “journey to the Hoa Lu ancient capital” ceremony, Bach Quoc Khanh, Director of the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion, underlined that the World Health Organisation and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies chose June 14 as World Blood Donor Day. 

The day aims to thank voluntary and unpaid blood donors all over the world, he said, adding that in 2017, Vietnam mobilised nearly 1.4 million blood units, 98 percent of which came from voluntary blood donors.

Themed “Be there for someone else. Give blood. Share life”, World Blood Donor Day lays stress on solidarity and humanitarian value and highlights the importance of regular blood donations to save lives of patients in need.

The same day, 100 outstanding blood donor paraded to popularise the blood donation campaign in Ninh Binh city and offered incense at the temple of King Dinh Tien Hoang and King Le Dai Hanh.

An official ceremony to honour 100 outstanding Vietnamese donors will be held in Hanoi on June 9.  

The 6th Red Journey will be launched in southern Ca Mau province on June 14. The journey will travel through 26 cities and provinces until July 15 with a hope of collecting at least 30,000 blood units.

After five years of organisation, the Red Journey received 120,000 blood units, making contributions to improving blood shortage situation during summer, meeting emergency and treatment needs, and raising public awareness of the humanitarian blood donation movement.

Conference seeks to improve Hanoi’s air quality

A booth introducing organic products made from waste at the conference (Photo: Hanoimoi.com.vn)

The Live & Learn organization and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) jointly held a conference in Hanoi on June 7 aiming to share solutions and mobilise actions to improve air quality in Hanoi.

Addressing the event, themed “Clean Air – Green City,” Vice Director of the Hanoi Department of Natural Resources and Environment Nguyen Minh Muoi said that Hanoi has made certain investment to control and settle environmental pollution.

It has been implementing a number of measures to manage environmental quality and deal with sources of pollution.

Particularly, the city has set up and operated a system of 10 automatic air sensing stations, and posted the results on its official website, he said.

Muoi noted that Hanoi air quality has been improved recently, especially in industrial parks and clusters as well as residential areas.

As scheduled, the city will install 70 other air sensing stations and a model of comprehensive evaluation of air quality until 2020.

In 2030, the city aims to become a dynamic, modern city with good living conditions for locals and tourists, stated Muoi.

Do Van Nguyet, Director of the Live & Learn said that the “clean air – green city” project will connect schools, the community and enterprises in giving measures to protect people’s health by improving air quality.

At the event, Anna Pia Schreyoegg from the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) suggested some solutions to make air quality in Hanoi better in a project on air quality management and climate change mitigation.

Participants discussed measures and actions to improve air quality to protect people’s health, while proposing policies on air management, sufficient energy, waste and urban management, and green lifestyle.

Earlier this month, the Hanoi Environmental Protection Agency reported that air quality in the city had seen improvement in the first four months of the year, but not in all parts of the city.

Good air quality was recorded at the end of April and the beginning of May at monitoring stations in the districts of Cau Giay, Dong Da and Hoang Mai.

From 10 monitoring stations across the city, concentrations of harmful PM10 and PM2.5 matter decreased by 1.5 and 2 times respectively, compared to the period from November to December 2017.

The air quality index (AQI), which measures daily air pollution, saw a drastic improvement during the Reunification Day (April 30) and Labour Day (May 1) holidays, as well as during Lunar New Year holiday (February 16-21) compared to regular days due to lower traffic in the city.

However, bad air quality was still recorded at monitoring points near major roads, especially on Minh Khai street (part of National Route 32) and from Pham Van Dong street to Thang Long Bridge. 

Artwork campaign aims to raise awareness of marine plastic pollution

Volunteers collect waste and polystyrenes on an island in Ha Long Bay 

An artwork creation campaign on plastic waste and polystyrenes is taking place in Minh Chau commune of Van Don district, northeastern Quang Ninh province, with a view to helping raise public awareness of marine pollution.

Themed “I love the ocean/Born to be wild”, the campaign is organised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Bai Tu Long National Park, and the Centre for Supporting Green Development (GreenHub) from May 29 to June 9.

Completed artworks will be displayed on local beaches or the community centre of Bai Tu Long National Park.

Phan Thanh Nghi, Deputy Director of the Bai Tu Long National Park, said the campaign aims to raise local community’s awareness of the serious plastic pollution in the sea through arts, thereby helping to change their behaviours in using plastics and polystyrenes, which is popular at local aquaculture farms.

Le Thi Doan Vi and Le Thi Thuc Vi, two volunteers from Ho Chi Minh City, created a chair from plastic waste. They said all of the materials were found on Minh Chau beach, and they wanted to make use of polystyrenes from old lifebuoys and tyres. They hoped that other people would recycle waste instead of discarding them in the ocean.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Thi Trang, a postgraduate student at the University of Industrial Fine Art in Hanoi, said she created three artworks from plastic waste. Notably, a sea turtle was made from polystyrenes collected on Minh Chau beach so as to call on people to protect this threatened species.

The artwork campaign is part of the 2018 community-based marine turtle conservation programme, implemented by the IUCN with support from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, in response to the Vietnam Sea and Island Week (June 1 – 8), the World Environment Day (June 5), and the World Oceans Day (June 8).

According to the IUCN and partners, in the three clean-up campaigns in the vicinity of Ha Long Bay from 2016 to 2017, polystyrenes on islands in Bai Tu Long accounted for 60 – 80 percent of total collected waste. Polystyrenes is dangerous for the environment when they are broken into small and uncollectible pieces, marine species may eat these pieces and die.

Statistics show that one million plastic bottles are bought and 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide every minute. Meanwhile, up to 8 million tonnes of plastic waste is discharged into oceans around the globe each year, harming coral reef ecosystems and marine species.

Quang Ninh: makeover begins for smart city

Van Don economic zone 

The northern coastal province of Quang Ninh will focus its resources on carrying out nine component projects under a blueprint to turn Ha Long city into a smart urban area by 2020.

According to Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Long, nine projects under the “Building Smart City in Quang Ninh province” Master Plan will be carried out during 2017-2020, focusing on information and technology (IT) application and smart lighting system.

Ha Long city has been assigned to carry out four projects which are applying IT in managing smart passenger transport and enhancing tourism safety and security in Ha Long Bay, deploying IT in improving efficiency of the tourism sector, building smart lighting system in Ha Long city and using IT in urban management.

The Chairman requested that the provincial Department of Planning and Investment should accelerate the assessment of projects that have completed investment preparation and submit them to the provincial People’s Committee for approval before June 30, in order to timely allocate capital for the projects in 2018.

Meanwhile, the remaining projects should be evaluated and approved before July 30.

Investment for the smart city construction is mobilised from the provincial and city budget, enterprises and local residents.

Besides domestic consultants, the province has hired advisors from Australia, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan (China), and Spain.

Joining the provincial efforts, Ha Long city has collaborated with relevant agencies and organisations to carry out comprehensive solutions to develop itself into a smart city. And things begin with branching out the “smart city” model in healthcare, education, e-government, transportation, finance-banking and tax sectors.

Along with asking the city’s bureau of taxation to modernize the local tax system, the city has ordered the installation of Point of Sale (POS) devices in all shops serving tourists. Shops are also required to us e-billing management software and sale software to facilitate tax examinations.

The city has discussed with a Romanian business delegation the study and installation of smart LED lighting system in 18 main streets to save energy while reducing CO2 emissions and maintenance costs. It is creating favourable conditions for the Romanian partner to conduct survey and implement the project. 

In addition, the city is working with partners in creating software to manage tourism boats in Ha Long Bay and set up free wifi at local tourist attractions.

Reform of administrative procedures and development of e-government have also received due attention as well. Currently, more than 90 percent of the city’s directive documents are filed online and all of the administrative procedures within the city’s jurisdiction are handled at the public administrative centre.

According to Tran Quoc Thai, deputy director of Urban Development Department under the Ministry of Construction, smart cities must meet the criteria of planning, management and provision of smart and comfortable services that are supplied by the State or other economic sectors.

“The building of smart cities requires appropriate institutions on the basis of integrated planning and management, while developing standards for safety, security and social affairs.”, he said at a seminar titled “Developing Smart Cities in Vietnam towards Green and Sustainable Growth” recently organised by the  Vietnamese Ministry of Construction and Embassy of the Netherlands.

The Ministry of Information and Communication (MoIC) has been working with the Ministry of Construction to build a set of indicators for smart cities including mechanisms, policies and guidelines for their development, he noted.

Exhibition highlights President Ho’s role in patriotic movements

At the opening ceremony of the exhibition 

More than 200 documents and objects on President Ho Chi Minh’s role in initiating and organising patriotic emulation movements are on display at an exhibition that opened at the Ho Chi Minh Museum in Hanoi on June 7. 

The exhibition is held on the occasion of the 128th birth anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh (May 19) and 70 years since he called for patriotic emulation (June 11).

The exhibits recall emulation movements between 1945 and 1954, socialism building in the northern region and struggle for liberation in the southern region and national reunification from 1954-1975, and patriotic emulation movements from 1975 until now. 

Seven decades ago, in the spring of 1948, the country was struggling as it waged its resistance war against the French. To encourage the nation to contribute to the war, President Ho Chi Minh made an appeal for patriotic emulation on June 11, 1948.

Opening the appeal he wrote: “The purpose of patriotic emulation is to eliminate poverty and hunger and illiteracy and foreign aggressors. It means our entire people have enough rice to eat and clothing to wear. The entire population will know how to read and to write. The soldiers will have enough food and weapons to defeat the foreign aggressors. These are aimed to unite the entire nation. Thus we will have an independent nation, free civil rights and happy welfare of the people."

Seventy years have passed, but the appeal he made in June 1948 as the country fought to defeat the French while building a stable future, always promotes work emulation of every Vietnamese.