Dutch give $3.3m to boost healthcare

The Netherlands will fund a US$3.3 million project through a Dutch-based non-governmental organisation to strengthen the capacity of Vietnamese groups trying to improve access to healthcare and social services by the disadvantaged..

The funding marks the first Viet Nam has received from the Netherlands via its Mede Financiering Stelse (co-financing system, or MFS), a mechanism of the Dutch foreign ministry to provide five-year funding to development organisations.

The progammes would target persons with disabilities, the mentally ill, ethnic minorities, women, the elderly and people living in poverty, according to the Dutch foreign ministry.

The grant was part of a total of $12 million awarded to an alliance of NGOs involved in development projects in eight Asian and East European countries, with Viet Nam the leading beneficiary of the funding.

The funds would be channelled through the Medical Committee Netherlands-Viet Nam (MCNV), which operates in Laos and Cambodia, as well as in Viet Nam, to the Transition in the East Alliance, which applied for the funding in August and which brings together the MCNV, Global Initiative on Psychiatry (GIP) and World Granny in a five-year capacity-building programme.

MCNV specialises in rural development, while the GIP focuses on mental health issues and World Granny on problems of the elderly. They will build on existing projects in each country with the addition of new target groups. MCNV would be responsible for reporting back to the Dutch foreign ministry.

MCNV has operated in Viet Nam since 1968, originally providing wartime medical assistance but shifting to improving healthcare for the disadvantaged once the war ended. It is currently working in 19 provinces in the northern, central, Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta and Central Highlands regions. Its projects address a range of issues, including poverty alleviation, rehabilitation of the disabled, care of women with HIV, and childhood malnutrition.

The organisation's extensive experience and projects in the country were a major factor in Viet Nam becoming a leading beneficiary of the new funding.

100% of rural households to access electricity

Vietnam is likely to reach the target of 100 percent of rural households to get access to electricity.

World Bank Country Director for Vietnam Victoria Kwakwa made the statement at a seminar to assess the impact of Vietnam’s rural electrification (RE) and the announcement of the result of a survey on the benefit of RE in Hanoi on December 9.

Photo: VOV

All of the nation’s districts have connected to the national grid and had on-the-spot electricity and 97.78 percent of communes and 95.4 percent of rural families now have electricity, Kwakwa said.

She spoke highly of the joint efforts of the Vietnamese Government, enterprises and people and various resources for rural development, hunger eradication and poverty reduction in the field.

Together with the impact of the education universalisation programme, RE has helped rural people improve their health and income through increasing their families’ production capacity, she added.

The result of the survey that was conducted in seven provinces of Vietnam in 2002, 2005 and 2008 within the framework of the RE project is an important foundation for WB to consider the decision to provide continued assistance and coordinate with the Vietnamese Government to carry out more power projects, said the seminar.

According to Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Hoang Quoc Vuong, the government is striving to have 100 percent electricity access for rural households by 2020 as planned.

The comprehensive assessment of the impact of rural electrification and the potential for on-the-spot distribution will help the Government, enterprises and people select the most effective investment in network power projects or use on-the-spot power sources.

Youth Union opens volunteer information centre

The Viet Nam Volunteer Information Resources Centre opened in Ha Noi this morning.

The centre, the country's first, is designed to strengthening volunteer capacity and is the result of co-operation between the Viet Nam Youth Union and the United Nations.

Its purpose is to support the young and the vulnerable through co-ordination that provides information and opportunities for volunteers.

The centre will also help connect individuals and organisations to exchange information; organise volunteer training and management and raise money.

The centre's web site is www.vvirc.vn.

Petrol station fined VND30m for fraud

Authorised agencies have decided to suspend operations at Hung Thinh Petrol Station in Quoc Oai District for 10 days and fine them VND30 million (US$1,500) for cheating customers.

Local police and the Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality had previously discovered 0.023 per cent water per one litre of petrol after receiving complaints from customers last month.

The station's business licence will be revoked and it will shut down if violations continue.

S Korean news boss hails VNA

Visiting President and CEO of Yonhap News Agency of the Republic of Korea Park Jung-chan praised the co-operation with Vietnam News Agency (VNA), describing it as one Yonhap's most important international partners, at a meeting with General Director of VNA Tran Mai Huong in Ha Noi yesterday, Dec 9.

He said he highly valued information provided by VNA and expressed his wish to develop the bilateral relations to become a symbol of co-operation among news agencies in Asia.

VNA General Director Huong spoke highly of the Yonhap delegation's recent visit, stressing the need to continue exchanging visits between high-level delegations, reporters and information. He also emphasised the need to increase mutual assistance between the two news agencies' bureaus in their respective countries.

"VNA is willing to support the implementation of language training programmes for Yonhap," the VNA General Director said.

He introduced VNA's functions as a national news agency, saying that VNA is accelerating its multimedia components, including mobile news and the TV station, along with existing media to improve the quality of its publications in order to provide information to foreign news agencies. In addition, VNA also focuses on personnel training and human resource development as well as management reform.

VNA values its co-operation with Yonhap, General Director Huong said, seeking to promote relations between the two news agencies to promote friendship between Viet Nam and the RoK.

Huong agreed with President Park Jung-chan on the importance of regular co-operation and said VNA would create favourable conditions for Yonhap reporters to cover news in Viet Nam.

In return, President Park Jung-chan said Yonhap will work to bring language training programmes to Vietnamese and RoK reporters and said the company was ready to share information technology with VNA. He also expressed his interest in VNA's initial efforts to launch a TV channel and said that Yonhap will soon have a TV channel of its own to meet the RoK people's demand and give their correspondents a larger voice.

Also at the talks the two sides agreed to further increase the quality and effectiveness of information exchange to produce quick and accurate news and act as a bridge between the two countries. During its visit, the Yonhap delegation also visited the VNA Television Centre.

3,000 extra coaches to be added for Tet

The Ha Noi's Parking Management Company has planned to add 3,000 extra coaches to serve traveling demand in the upcoming Tet (Lunar New Year).

The company estimates that the number of passengers will raise 20-25 per cent from the previous year.

The ticket prices will not increase under the Transport Department's orders, said Nguyen Cong Bang, deputy director of the company.

Broken embankment threatens Binh Thuan

Huge waves blew off sections of the stone embankment, threatening lives and the property of hundreds of local residents in Duc Long Ward, Phan Thiet City in central coastal Binh Thuan Province.

Waves had already destroyed 10 houses in the area early this week. Local authorities mobilised hundreds of residents to reinforce the embankment with sandbags but failed.

Students arrested for breaking into ATM

Central Nghe An Province's Police caught three students of Doi Cung High School in Vinh City red-handed as they attempted to break open a Sai Gon Commercial Bank ATM machine yesterday.

The perpetrators are Phung Bao Quoc, 16, Pham Doan Hung, 16, and Pham Duc Chinh, 15.

The police also seized a gas tank, an oxygen tank, a drill and other tools used to break the ATM.

Car crash causes store collapse

A furniture store collapsed after a speeding car crashed into it in Thu Dau Mot Township in southern Binh Duong Province yesterday, Dec 9.

Damage was estimated at VND100 million (US$5,100). No loss of human life was reported.

The two women in the car fled the scene to go to a night club. Local police are continuing investigations.

Developing social work into a respected profession

A talk was held in Hanoi on December 9 to discuss the social work profession, its demands and potential in Vietnam.

Vietnam highlights regional info security

Vietnam showed keen interest in information security at the Chief Security Officer (CSO) Conference and Awards-2010 for Southeast Asia in Ho Chi Minh City on December 9.

Awards were conferred on 14 out of 63 candidates, with nine from the host Vietnam, two from Singapore and one each from Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia.
This year’s event was upgraded to a regional scale as organizers, consisting of the municipal Information and Communication Service, the Vietnam Computer Emergency Response Team (VNCERT) and the International Data Group, invited all 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to send candidates.
The conference, the second of its kind so far, highlighted the good management and fast response skills of chief information security officers, with leading experts across the region gathering to share experiences.

VNN/VOV/VNS