Also present were leaders from the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Coordinating Committee on Disability of Vietnam (NCCD).

The focus of discussion will be on how to improve the association networking and coordinate efforts to help people with disabilities get involved in social activities.

Another conference on handicapped people is scheduled to take place in Hanoi on the occasion of Vietnam’s Disabled Day (April 18).

Agent Orange activists to review future plans

The Viet Nam - US Dialogue Group on Agent Orange/Dioxin is scheduled to meet in HCM City next Friday to discuss future activities.

The workshop is part of the group's action plan on AO/dioxin during the 2010-19 period, Ngo Quang Xuan, vice chairman of the National Assembly's Committee for External Affairs and co-head of the group, said at a press briefing yesterday.

The US$300 million action plan set out by the group last June focuses on human health and the environment.

"Participants at the workshop are scheduled to visit Bien Hoa Airport in southern Dong Nai Province, one of the hot spots of AO/Dioxin contamination, and a care centre for AO/Dioxin child victims, as well as some victims' families," he said.

"Over the past years, the group, with assistance from the Government, the Viet Nam Association for Victims of AO/dioxin and international agencies and organisations, has actively worked to raise awareness in the US of the harmful consequences of using the toxic chemical during the American War. The group has also striven to mobilise the US to contribute to making good the damage caused by AO to both the environment and people's health in Viet Nam."

Meanwhile, a music programme is scheduled for next Thursday at HCM City-based Hoa Binh Theatre to raise funds for AO victims in Viet Nam.

"The workshop and the fund-raising programme are aimed at raising public awareness about the issue, especially in the US, and to mobilise resources to address the harmful consequences of using AO. We also want to implement projects to clean up dioxin-contaminated areas, restore the environment and support people who have been exposed to the toxic chemical," Xuan said.

Between 1962 and 1971, US troops sprayed more than 80 million litres of AO/Dioxin on one-fourth of southern Viet Nam's land area. At least 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to the toxic chemical.

Scientists have identified 28 hot spots of dioxin contamination in Viet Nam, including Bien Hoa Airport in Dong Nai Province,Phu Cat Airport in the central coastal province of Binh Dinh and Da Nang Airport.

The survey was conducted on 5,568 people from 30 cities and provinces to build the Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) under the sponsorship of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Vietnam.

The participation of other sponsors, including the Vietnam Fatherland Front, the nation’s largest social organisation, and the Centre for Research on Community Development and Support (CRCDS), has also illustrated the programme’s goal to improve public services.
The nation’s largest economic and most populous hub of Ho Chi Minh City and the central port city of Da Nang were among administrations with the highest index, showing public satisfaction at their performance. Hanoi was at the bottom, in the third-ranking group out of the four ranks in the survey result announced in Hanoi on March 31.
PAPI will be used as input information to help in policymaking to meet people’s demands and legitimate aspirations, said the CRCDS Director, Dang Ngoc Dinh.

Over the past five years, the police in coordination with border guards and customs officers have arrested nearly 60,000 drug-related cases and 91,000 drug-related offenders, seized nearly 1 tonnes of heroin and more than 17 tonnes of cannabis.

The police have also worked closely with the Ministry of Labour, Invalids, and Social Affairs to implement detoxification models efficiently with 250,000 people having been rehabilitated. In addition, 15,000 people have been provided with loans and new jobs.

Remarkable progress has been made in international cooperation, and dissemination of information about drug control. However, drug trafficking and other drug-related activities have spread widely as drug users have been reported in more than 90 percent of districts and townships, and nearly 60 percent of communes and wards.

Deputy Minister of Public Security, Le The Tiem said it is essential to create a plan to come up with the national strategy for drug control in Vietnam until 2020 with a vision to 2030, and implement the Political Bureau’s resolution No 21 on drug control in the new situation.

In his speech, Deputy PM Truong Vinh Trong praised ministries, sectors and localities’ combined efforts to prevent and control drugs and prostitution over the year while asking them to build their own plans to implement the national strategy for drug control in Vietnam until 2020 with a vision to 2030.

It is necessary to launch annual campaigns for drug control, deal with trafficking rings and increase the efficiency of detoxification and post-detoxification management of drug addicts, Mr Trong stressed.

These outstanding workers represent creative young and skilled people from across the country who are actively participating in the national industrialisation and modernisation process.

Huynh Ngoc Yen from the Vietnam Aviation Corporation and Lai Anh Tuan from the Coc Sau Coal Joint Stock Company in Quang Ninh province reported back to Ms Doan about their training and studying process and promised to continue contributing to the national construction.

Ms Doan praised efforts of the 80 outstanding workers and said that although they come from different regions in the country, they made great effort in demonstrating Vietnam’s intellect. She added that skillful workers should be honoured and they should encourage others to contribute to the national construction.

The Ho Chi Minh City Communist Youth Union and relevant agencies should pay greater attention to guide young students to purpose adequate studies according to their individual abilities, even if they are no initially interested in vocational training for instance, said Ms Doan.

It was reported that in 2010, nearly 570,000 units of blood was collected, 84 percent of which was donated by volunteers. Many campaigns on blood donations were launched in the year, which for the first time saw sufficient blood for medical treatments during the Lunar New Year festival (Tet).

It is estimated that the country will need 760,000-800,000 units of blood for medical purposes in 2011. The National Committee on Blood Donation set the target of receiving 766,000 units of blood, 85 percent of which comes from volunteer donors, who make up 0.8 percent of the population.

The committee also set the target of boosting the blood donation movement at all tiers of government, at colleges and universities, with at least 20 percent of state employees donating blood.