Vice President presents Tet gifts

Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan has been touring the northern mountainous provinces of Dien Bien and Lai Chau, presenting gifts to poor pupils and disadvantaged families since last Thursday.

Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan presents gifts to poor pupils in Lai Chau.

Doan, who is also Chairwoman of the National Fund for Vietnamese Children (NFVC), yesterday attended a ceremony granting the "I Don't Have to Drop Out" scholarship to students in Dien Bien.

At the event, she presented 150 gifts, each worth VND3 million (US$150), to poor students who could drop out due to economic difficulties.

During her brief stay in the province, Doan paid visits to social policy beneficiary families in the communes of Ta Leng and Muong Lay, soldiers based at the Muong Muon border station and the provnice's SOS children's village.

She urged the leaders of the two provinces to pay more attention to human resource and infra-structure development in order to build more schools, as well as improving the capacity of teachers and ensuring that more ethnic and/or poor children can receive a full education.

Launched in 2012, the NFVC's "I Don't Have to Drop Out" programme has awarded more than 3,400 scholarships, worth over VND10 billion ($476,000), to disadvantaged children in 28 provinces.

In 2013, the programme will grant more than 5,200 scholarships, worth nearly VND16 billion ($762,000), to young students in 35 provinces.

Meanwhile, the Viet Nam Red Cross has donated VND200 million and 500 blankets to disadvantaged people and Agent Orange victims living in the two provinces.

Thousands of young people join “Red Sunday” campaign

Over 3,000 young people braved the chilly weather to participate in the fifth “Red Sunday” campaign on January 20, donating blood at Hanoi National University.

Speaking at the event, Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said she hopes the campaign would develop into a valuable, reliable source of blood donations for patients in need.

The campaign is expected to collect around 800–1,000 units of blood. According to the organising board, the number of young people who registered to donate blood greatly exceeded expectations. It demonstrates the young generation’s sympathy for the disadvantaged and their willingness to share the burden of social security responsibilities.

“Red Sunday”, co-organised by the Central Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion and the Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper, was launched in 2009 and has collected more than 2,500 units of blood thus far.

A similar event was also held at Thai Nguyen University.

Customs officers bust fraud, crime cases

Customs authorities uncovered violations involving VND378.8 billion (US$18.1 million) worth products last year.
They busted more than 24,000 cases of customs fraud and crime, 19 per cent more than in 2011, and collected VND219.3 billion in fines, a 28 per cent increase.

They included 869 drug trafficking cases and 16 others involving illegal transport of books, newspapers, magazines, maps, and DVDs, with anti-State and other seditious contents.

New Year presents for AO victims

As many as 520 New Year gifts will be given to Agent Orange victims nationwide from January 17 to February 9 with a hope to help them have a happy and well-off Tet.

According to Lieutenant General Nguyen The Luc, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/dioxin (VAVA), VAVA delegations are visiting AO victims in four northern provinces, including Hung Yen, Lang Son, Nam Dinh and Bac Ninh between January 17-25.

VAVA will also send representatives to centres for Agent Orange victims across the country.

Japanese underpin waste water project

A waste water treatment system for seven districts in Ha Noi will be constructed with funding provided by the Japanese Government.

An agreement on the loan for the Yen Xa Wastewater Treatment System was signed between the Ha Noi People's Committee and representatives from Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA) on Friday in the capital.

The 66.7 billion Yen (US$740 million) project will be managed by the Ha Noi People's Committee. Investment capital includes 56.1 billion Yen ($623 million) in official development assistance and 10.6 billion Yen ($117 million) from the Vietnamese side.

The Yen Xa treatment facility will be built in Thanh Liet commune, Thanh Tri district, in an area of 13 hectares. It will treat waste water from 900,000 residents living in Ba Dinh, Dong Da, Thanh Xuan, Hoang Mai, Ha Dong, Thanh Tri and Tu Liem districts.

The system will be constructed between 2013 and 2020.

Danang adds one more bridge across Han River

The Danang Municipal People’s Committee officially debuted Tran Thi Ly Bridge—the latest bridge spanning Han River—on January 19.

The six-lane bridge, 730m long and 34m wide, was constructed in three years and designed by WSP Finland Ltd.
The construction’s total investment capital exceeded VND1,800 billion.

The bridge is scheduled to enter operation on March 29, marking the 38th anniversary of Danang Liberation Day.
Institute launches trial project to stem dengue fever cases

The naturally existing strain of the bacteria Wolbachia will be used to control dengue-fever transmission, which has increased in recent years, according to the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology.

The trial project will begin in April on Tri Nguyen Island in central Khanh Hoa Province.

Dr Nguyen Tran Hien, the institute's head, was quoted as saying in the Lao Dong (Labour) Newspaper that current methods for dengue prevention, including the spraying of chemicals and getting rid of stagnant water, were failing to reduce dengue-fever incidence.

Hien spoke at a workshop held in Khanh Hoa Province on Thursday on the use of the bacterium in the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

Viet Nam, especially localities in the central region's coastal provinces and in the southern region, have seen dengue-fever incidence increase.

Wolbachia is a natural bacterium present in up to 70 per cent of all insect species. It is known to reduce mosquito susceptibility to dengue and other viruses.

Australia was the first country to use the bacterium to successfully and safely reduce dengue transmission.

Scientists introduce the bacterium into the dengue-carrying mosquito Aedes aegypti and then release the mosquitoes into the environment.

The bacterium is used to control dengue and malaria by eliminating older insects and controlling reproduction.
Tri Nguyen Island has a high population of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and a small population of 3,250, making it a suitable area for a pilot project.

Viet Nam is one of eight countries in Asia that have a high incidence of dengue cases and fatalities caused by the disease.

The annual average number of cases that occur in Viet Nam are between 70,000 and 100,000. Each year, between 60 and 90 people die from dengue fever.

Avian flu halted across five communes

Central Khanh Hoa Province has stopped the spread of bird flu in five communes of Van Ninh District.

Up to 15,000 ducks had been destroyed in seven households, the source of the infection, and the owners were given compensation of VND30,000-40,000 ($1.50-$2) per duck.

Petrol stations fined for duping customers

Ten out of 15 petrol stations in southern Hau Giang Province have been found to have either sold substandard petrol or raised prices above the Government cap this year.

The province's Department of Industry and Trade director Nguyen Thanh Hung said the stations had faced possible closure but instead had been fined VND20-30 million ($1000-$1500) per violation, with six stations closed until fines were paid.

Illegal firecrackers seized in Quang Ninh

Two cases of smuggled firecrackers were discovered in the northern province of Quang Ninh on Thursday, police said.

Luong Van Cap, 29, from the northern province of Tuyen Quang, was apprehended on a bus to H Long City carrying 196 fireworks made in China.

On the same day, police found 10kg of firecrackers and other smuggled products in a car travelling from northern Hai Phong City to Quang Ninh.

Man arrested for smuggling ivory

A 41-year-old man has been busted for carrying elephant tusks from Singapore to Viet Nam, the Customs Department said.

The department, in the central province of Da Nang, reported discovering five tusks weighing a total of 31.6 kilos while checking the luggage of Nguyen The Dan.

The suspect was handed over to provincial police for questioning.

Consultations begin on post-2015 UN plans

The United Nations in Viet Nam has initiated a series of consultations with Vietnamese people to discuss the country's 2015 development framework that will run until early 2013, when the current Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) expire.

Representatives from eight target groups (ethnic minorities, urban and rural poor, people with disabilities, people living with HIV, young people, the elderly and the private sector) will voice their opinions on how the nation should handle the development process.

"As a country that has done extremely well with the MDGs, listening to people from Viet Nam is critical. The national consultations are an excellent way to identify how we can best address the new development challenges we are facing and how to build a world beyond 2015 where all people can enjoy a life of prosperity, equity, freedom and dignity," said Pratibha Mehta, UN Resident Coordinator in Viet Nam.

She added that the results of the consultations will be discussed at a national workshop before being shared with the UN Secretary General's advisory panel in March. The panel is expected to submit its findings to the UN Secretary General in the first half of 2013. The findings will be presented to UN member countries at its General Assembly session in September.

Although Viet Nam has graduated from a poor developing country to a middle-income country, challenges remain, said Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh. The minister added, however, that Viet Nam is fully committed to the MDGs and has developed policies and mobilised resources for social and human development, especially when it comes to reducing poverty and the development gap.

VNN/VOV/VNS