A nurse takes care of a newborn baby at Tu Du hospital in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1

Around 65-70 infants die every day in Vietnam, according to a US NGO promoting a new campaign to reduce the number.

Save the Children has initiated a campaign to reduce the mortality rate among infants and children, particularly in poor countries like Vietnam, where babies often die by suffocation, contamination or premature delivery.

Neonatal deaths account for nearly 75 percent of all infant deaths in Vietnam, the organization said on its website.

The campaign will include conferences, meetings and demonstrations in Hanoi as well as the nearby Thanh Hoa, Thai Nguyen provinces and Vinh Long Province in the Mekong Delta.

While Vietnamese society values education with more than 85 percent of children attending lower secondary school, “there is a key gap in the availability of early childhood development services for children under 6 years of age, especially among ethnic minorities,” Save the Children said on its website.

In 1990, the US-based independent organization received an invitation from the Vietnamese government to help address widespread child malnutrition. It has since broadened its focus and now works with youth and local communities in 10 provinces across the country.

Reported by Huong Giang