EU supports storm victims in Thua Thien-Hue city; MoH starts inspecting drug prices, milk quality; Netherlands helps Vietnam deal with climate change; Talk show to raise public awareness of UXO

The Thua Thien-Hue provincial People’s Committee on March 29 received a project to assist its rural people to overcome the consequences of storm Ketsana, sponsored by the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office and the Italian organisation GVC.

The project has received funding of EUR264,500 and will be carried out in Phu Van district. It will help people to re-build damaged houses and provide seeds, cattle and other agricultural materials to maintain production in the next crop. Irrigational works and infrastructure destroyed by storm Ketsana will also be repaired.

The Dam Quang dyke in Phu Da commune, the Dai Giang Thieu Hoa dyke in Vinh Thai commune and a pumping station for aquaculture projects in Phu Xuan commune will also be repaired.

Opportunity to bring light to the blind

The Vietnam National Institute of Ophthalmology (VNIO) held a ceremony to announce the launching of an Eye Bank in Hanoi on March 30.

This is the first eye and tissue bank in the Vietnam since the Law on the Donation and Transplantation of Human Tissues and Organs came into effect on July 1, 2007.

Speaking at the ceremony, Minister of Health Nguyen Quoc Trieu emphasised that health care is an extremely important task, including eye care. The establishment of the bank will help meet the demands of hundreds of blind people who are waiting for cornea transplants.

The VNIO has so far received 136 corneas from 69 people, and 10,437 people have registered to donate their corneas when they pass away. However, more than 300,000 blind people are still waiting for a cornea transplant.

The Eye Bank is a non-profitable organisation and will operate under humanitarian methods. It has been established after close coordination between the VNIO and the ORBIS organisation. In 2005, with the support of ORBIS, the VNIO began to set up the bank using US$500,000 of funding to improve treatments for cornea disease.

Any one who wants to donate their corneas can contact the Eye Bank at its hotline 04 39454799.

Netherlands helps Vietnam deal with climate change

Vietnam needs to learn from the Netherlands’ experience so it can help the Mekong Delta region cope more effectively with climate change, to ensure sustainable development and cooking security.

This was stated by the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE), Pham Khoi Nguyen, at a seminar on plans to deal with climate change, jointly held by the MONRE and the Dutch Embassy in Vietnam.

The seminar, which was also attended by several Dutch experts, is part of a memorandum of understanding signed by the MONRE, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works, & Water Management in October 2009.

The event is a good opportunity for Vietnamese managers and scientists to exchange information on the impact of climate change in the Mekong Delta region.

Delegates discussed the formulation of a short-term and long-term plan of action to deal with climate change, which will be then submitted to authorized Vietnamese agencies for consideration. Under the plan, specific programmes will be developed to seek domestic and foreign assistance.

An estimated 19-38 percent of the Mekong Delta region, which produces 50 percent of Vietnam’s rice output, will be flooded if the sea levels rise one metre in the next 50 years, and will cost 10 percent of the country’s GDP.

Talk show to raise public awareness of UXO

A talk show on addressing the legacy of unexploded ordnance for a peaceful life will be broadcast live on April 4 on the VTC14 – a specialised channel for programmes on natural disaster prevention.

The programme is being jointly organised by the Quan Doi Nhan Dan (People’s Army) Newspaper, Vietnam’s Bomb and Mine Disposal Technology Centre (BOMICEN) and the Vietnam Multimedia Corporation (VTC), said Major-General Le Phuc Nguyen, the newspaper’s Editor-in-chief, at a press briefing on March 29.

The show will bring together the victims of bombs and landmines remaining unexploded and undetected since the war—known as unexploded ordnance, or UXO–and representatives of organisations that are directly involved in mine and bomb clearance activities in Vietnam.

The talk show is expected to help raise public awareness of the dangers of UXO as well as measures to avoid injury and death for those living in heavily infested areas.

According to Nguyen Trong Canh, BOMICEN Director, publicity campaigns to raise awareness should be accelerated, especially in focal localities, where many people living in poverty and forced to collect scraps to earn a living, putting them at risk of exposure to UXO.

Vocational training and guidance will be provided for the poor living in highly-contaminated areas in the coming time once the national action programme to address the UXO issue is approved by the government, Canh added.

Many places in Vietnam are still heavily contaminated with UXO, particularly the six central provinces of Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Ngai.

A project to stamp out child labour

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) in coordination with the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID) and the Int’l Labour Organisation (ILO) organised a ceremony in Hanoi on March 29 for the signing of a EUR2.5 million project to help stamp out the worst forms of child labour in Vietnam.

According to the ILO’s investigative report, in 2006, Vietnam had about 930,000 children taking part in economic activities and there was an increasing trend of child labourers being forced to work hard.

The 4-year project aims to help some 5,000 child labourers get out of the bad working environment.

The project will help about 200 child victims of trafficking rehabilitate and re-integrate themselves into society.

The project will be carried out in 5 provinces and cities, including Hanoi, Lao Cai, Ninh Binh, Quang Nam and Dong Nai.

To benefit from the project, children working in a bad environment can call 18001567-a hotline of the MOLISA’s Child Care and Protection Department for assistance and timely intervention by appropriate authorities.

Int’l seminar discusses development of compressed natural gas

The second international seminar on the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) opened in Ho Chi Minh City on March 29.

More than 120 investors as well as CNG suppliers and producers from Japan, the Republic of Korea, China, Thailand, Germany, Singapore, Australia, Austria, and Canada were in attendance.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, Nguyen Thanh Bien, said organising the seminar is very important to deal with the current situation of global climate change as well as minimizing gas exhaustion to protect the environment in Vietnam.

“The seminar will help to accelerate the use of CNG in industrial development and production and eventually replace the use of petroleum in means of transport,” he said.

According to the Petroleum Vietnam gas south company, Vietnam recognises great potential in using CNG. Currently, PV gas south is one of the two sole companies to supply CNG in Vietnam. It provides CNG to 14 clients in industrial zones in Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Dong Nai, Binh Duong and Ho Chi Minh City with estimated output of 60million cub.m in 2010.

Ho Chi Minh City now has two buses using CNG and will increase the number of bus using this gas to 50 in April. Using CNG can economise 53.5 percent of fuel cost as compared to using petroleum.

The seminar will last until March 31.

Vietnamese in Laos celebrate national festivals

A variety of activities have been held by the Vietnamese Community in Laos to celebrate major national festivals like the 35th anniversary of Liberation Day and the millennium anniversary of Thang Long- Hanoi.

On March 28, the Youth Union Committee of the National University of Laos held a congress for the 2010-2012 term. Participants expressed strong determination to boost solidarity and friendship by holding cultural exchanges, sports events and eloquent contests in Laotian and Vietnamese.

The same day, the Xieng Khoang Association of Fellow Countrymen had a meeting with Vietnamese writers who are currently working in Laos to refresh their memories with wartime poems and songs.

On March 27, a friendly football match was held between a team from the Vietnamese Business Association in Laos and a U-40 team from the Vietnamese Association in Vientiane.

Hoang Dieu, President of the Vietnamese Association in Laos, and writer Huu Thinh, head of the Vietnamese writers delegation said they hoped for more exchanges with Vietnamese people in Laos, to learn more about their homeland and the traditional Vietnam-Laos friendship.

MoH starts inspecting drug prices, milk quality

The Drug Administration Department, under the Ministry of Health, will start an investigation and inspection of drug prices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City on March 29.

The inspection, which is scheduled to last until April 15, will focus on drug producers and the representative offices of foreign pharmaceutical companies operating in Vietnam.

The Food Hygiene and Safety Department (FHSD), meanwhile, is also carrying out an inspection of the quality of milk in eight cities and provinces. The FHSD has collected samples of powered and fresh milk from five localities including Hanoi, Bac Ninh, Thai Nguyen, Lang Son and Ha Nam. The work is planned to continue in April.

FHSD director Nguyen Cong Khan says that the poor quality of milk in Vietnam is attributed to the operations of many small businesses, especially in Ho Chi Minh City. The draft decree of the implementation of the law on food hygiene and safety proposes closing down businesses that commit more than four violations.

Highland education organisation honoured

The Highland Education Development Organisation (HEDO) and its Director were presented high distinctions at a ceremony in Hanoi on March 28 to mark the organisation’s 20th anniversary.

HEDO, a domestic non-governmental organisation, received the Labour Order, third class, while Director Trinh Ngoc Trinh was awarded the Labour Order, second class, by the State President for their outstanding contributions to developing education and improving health for people in Vietnam over the past 20 years.

Speaking at the ceremony, Trinh said that HEDO has carried out over 200 programmes and projects, benefiting people in mountainous areas of 43 cities and provinces across the country.

Those projects have helped build centres for illiteracy and provide equipment for vocational training centres and scholarships for students and teachers in mountainous areas to study in major education centres in the country and abroad.

Besides, HEDO has supported farmers in those areas in applying science and technology to production.

Vietnam ranks 7th in number of students studying in Australia

By May 2009, Vietnam had sent 15,900 students to study in Australia, ranking 7th among foreign countries, a rise of 60 percent compared to 2008, according to the International Education Agency-Australia (IEAA).

Australia is increasingly considered a leading country for providing the best education and training services. It has diversified culture and is secure and relatively near Vietnam.

The biggest increase was in the fields of general education and vocational training with over 4,090 Vietnamese students registering to study, up 107 percent against 2008.

In particular, the state of South Australia in the southern central part of the country is home to 12,500 Australian people of Vietnamese origin.

1,350 Vietnamese students studied there last year, an increase of 30 percent compared to 2008.

PV