Social News Headlines 10/7 A July 8 meeting in Delegates at the event reported that Vietnam has the highest abortion rate in the Southeast Asian region, and its birth rate among adolescents aged 15–19 years is rather high (46/1,000). They pointed out that They attributed According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), adolescent pregnancy results in negative consequences for adolescent girls, both physically and spiritually. IBM Vietnam donates modern learning kits IBM Vietnam on July 8 made a generous donation of 40 sets of school materials “Young Explorers” to KidSmart for the benefit of 24 kindergartens and 7 social welfare centres across the country. The KidSmart software is designed to stimulate the children’s creativity, ability of thinking, problem solving and community integration. It also features fun and interactive games that are ideal for young patrons age three up to seven and is designed to stimulate the children’s creativity, ability of thinking, problem solving and community integration. Since 2001, IBM has donated 537 such learning kits worth more than US$1.6 million in total for To date, IBM has granted over US$106 million in support of millions of poor students in more than 60 countries and territories around the world. *** Also on July 8, representatives from the National Fund for Vietnamese Children (NFVC) presented gifts to children with harelips and cleft palates at Hanoi-based Vietnam-Cuba hospital. The child patients received free surgeries following a charity programme jointly organized by the NFVC and Operation Smile International, which has pledged support for over 1,000 Vietnamese children this year. By June 30, as many as 806 child patients were provided with free medical check-ups and treatment, including 508 cases receiving free surgeries worth approximately VND3 billion. Long An intensifies support for Cambodian provinces The Mekong Delta It has helped Prey Veng build a bridge spanning the Cai Co canal at the Tan Hung-Svai A Ngoong auxiliary border gate. The bridge is expected to be completed in 2015. It has also trained eight public servants from the two Cambodian localities in the Vietnamese language and agricultural techniques as well as granted scholarships to Cambodian students of Vietnamese origin at the provincial Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Do Huu Lam said Long An will continue maintaining and developing all-round relations with Cambodia, organising charitable activities and accelerating the implementation of cooperation agreements with the two Cambodian provinces in the fields of economics, socio-culture, security and defence. Hunt for seeds ruins forests Like a plague, hunters are swarming local forests. The devastation left in their wake isn't from a search for gold, or for diamonds. It's all because of a nut. The price of uoi tree (or malva nut tree) seeds has spiked recently, and people have flocked to the central provinces of Quang Once harvested, uoi tree seeds are used in traditional Chinese medicine to ease gastrointestinal disorders and soothe soar throats. Favourable weather conditions have led to particularly fruitful harvests this year, according to Phan Tuan, head of the provincial Forest Management Department. As the market price of uoi seeds rose, people began rushing to the protected mountain forests of Nam Tra My, Bac Tra My, Nam Giang and Phuoc Son districts. At present, a kg of uoi seeds is worth between VND 250,000-300,000 (US$11.7-14), an increase of VND50,000 or $2.3 over crops in recent years. People can collect tens of kilograms of seeds from individual uoi trees, which are native to But what has been good for foragers, has been havoc for the region's forests. Many decades-old trees were cut down, Nguyen Thanh Tam, Nam Tra My district's police chief, told VnExpress online. There's been an even higher price for this high-value natural medicine. Tam said the illegal logging of uoi trees has caused injuries and even deaths as people are crushed under falling trunks. Provincial authorities have issued an urgent order for local forest protection agencies, forest management boards and police to co-ordinate a crackdown on illegal logging of uoi trees. Local leaders are also calling for more patrols and checkpoints to prevent the transportation and trade of uoi seeds. Last month, local authorities handled 72 cases of illegal logging and transport of uoi seeds, seizing more than 7.7 tonnes of seeds. Ha Noi to upgrade workers' skills and improve veterinary standards The city's Department of Animal Health is organising courses to help poorly trained veterinary workers improve their skills in caring for animals, ensuring food safety and preventing food borne illnesses. Can Xuan Binh, deputy director of Ha Noi's Department of Animal Health, said the city's veterinary workers were ill-equipped and too few in number to fight or prevent epidemics. The city now has 584 animal health units in communes, wards and towns, but lacks 54 heads for the units, according to the department. There are also fears that many of those senior veterinary professionals may be under qualified. Only 16 per cent of the unit heads have university degrees, less than a quarter of them have college diplomas, and about 3 per cent are not trained in animal health. "Many of them are embarrassed when making reports or implementing epidemic prevention measures," said Binh. Due to the shortage of veterinary workers, some districts' animal health units employ retired medical workers to fill that gap. The city has more than 2,400 veterinary workers, but nearly a third of them are over age. Moreover, Binh said, some animal health units in suburban districts are lacking refrigerators for vaccines, safety work wear, and other essential professional equipment. City officials are hopeful the new program will improve the overall quality of veterinary care in the capital. Training courses will stress animal health regulations, as well as food hygiene and safety laws. The trainees will be taught to monitor livestock and poultry epidemics, and ways to recognise and treat dangerous diseases such as bird flu, foot-and-mouth, and blue ear in pigs. Everyday Ha Noi uses thousands of tonnes of livestock and poultry, and 40 per cent of the meat was transported from neighbouring provinces, according to the Ha Noi Department of Animal Health. The city has more than 3,000 slaughter houses. Hospitals can offer better service: MoH Central hospitals offer better services than provincial and district hospitals, but are still only performing at an average level, according to a recent Ministry of Health (MOH) assessment. Based on a set of 83 criteria issued by the MOH in December, the assessment aimed to improve hospital services and increase patient satisfaction. The criteria relate to patient care, workforce development, professional quality, quality improvement and professional knowledge. Last year, hospitals carried out self-assessments in which they ranked their performance on a scale of five, from bad to very good, using these criteria. The ministry sent inspectors this year to re-assess them. The results from self-assessments and the ministry's assessments did not vary considerably, said Nguyen Trong Khoa, deputy director of the MOH's Medical Services Administration, adding that the average score was 3.18 out of 5. He portrayed this fact in a positive light, telling Tuoi tre (Youth) newspaper, "We consider the moderately good level a foundation to strive for good and very good levels." The most common problem among the hospitals was overcrowding. Pham Manh Than, head of the General Planning Division at Ha Noi's Saint Paul Hospital, said that the hospital tried to create better conditions for waiting patients, but was limited to repairing the health examination ward and adding chairs and fans. Other criteria would take a long time to meet, such as patients not having to share their beds or having soap to wash their hands. The MOH intends to add 20-40 criteria related to vaccination safety and capacity for coping with epidemics to the list. Some hospitals also proposed criteria related to professional quality and professional knowledge. Investment slated for telemedicine The Ministry of Health this year will give priority to more funds for During a visit to the University Medical Centre yesterday, Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said that the two hospitals' doctors would provide professional treatment advice to satellite hospitals through telemedicine. With use of IT and imaging networks, the city hospitals carrying out the satellite hospital programme will no longer need to send many doctors to those sites outside The University Medical Centre, which was initially reluctant to carry out the programme for fear that it would lose too many doctors, will implement the programme this year. Tien suggested that the centre chose the Mekong Delta because most outpatients who visit the centre were from there. Many of the patients take a bus at dawn to come to the medical centre and wait for health exams. Tien said that it was also important that The centre, for instance, starts health examination at 6 am, and examines and treats nearly 5,000 outpatients every day. The number of outpatients a day at Tien asked the three centrally managed hospitals to pay more attention to expanding their health examination facilities to meet demand. Yesterday, Tien also checked Thong Nhat, Cho Ray and the University Medical Centre's progress on implementing their projects to reduce patient overload. Shipping route to ease pressure on roads A coastal shipping route connecting northern Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Cong said the sea route would reduce high inventories at ports, in addition to restructuring About 70 per cent of goods are transported via roads, according to director of the ministry's Marine Department Nguyen Nhat. After the minister stepped up vehicle weight inspections in April, road transport became up to ten times more expensive than waterway transport. Nhat said that the move also increased inventory levels at Hai Phong, Nghe An and Ha Tinh ports as well as the number of ships docked at other ports. "Sea transportation takes three times longer than road transportation, but freight charges by sea are usually one-fifth or one-sixth of those by road," he said. Vice chairman of National Committee for Road Safety Khuat Viet Hung said that the coastal shipping route would help reduce pressure on roads because about 300,000 container trucks would be replaced with ships. The route could also boost the use of inland ports and seaports, Hung said. Roughly 500,000-600,000 tonnes of goods each month are transported between the provinces on the new route (Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Thai Binh, Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh). Director of Thai Ha Shipping Joint Stocks Company Tran Duc Lanh said the route was best for short-distance shipping and recommended legal changes that would allow inland waterway vessels to be upgraded to seaway vessels. Illegal sand miners sentenced to jail The People's Court of the Mekong Delta The Ngu Binh Co., Ltd was caught illegally mining river sand in Hong Ngu District in October, 2012. Further investigation revealed that former leaders of the district had given the green light to the company to carry out the operations over a prolonged period, causing an estimated lost of more than VND12 billion (US$571,000). Duong Tan Quoc, former CEO of Ngu Binh Co., Ltd, was given one and a half years behind bars for violating regulations on the exploitation of natural resources. The other defendants received up to over a year for the same charge. Scholarships awarded to poor students A total of 400 disadvantaged high school students with high study performances from eight cities and provinces have received Chung Mot Uoc Mo (A Shared Dream) scholarships each worth VND3 million (US$143). The VND2.2 billion ($104,800) scholarship programme will fund the one-year tuition fee if the students pass the university entrance examinations in the fields of business management, marketing, accounting and engineering. The annual programme, which has been organised by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper and Siam Cement Group for eight consecutive years, aims to assist poor students to continue their schooling. Northern highway upgrade to resume Work to upgrade a section of National Highway 38 running through the The Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) project is backed by Vinaconex import company and Licogi 16 at a cost of nearly VND1.7 trillion (US$80.9 million). When completed in the second quarter of next year, the 32.8km, four-lane road will make it easier to link traffic from industrial parks, seaports and airports in the two provinces. At present, the road is in poor condition and narrow and is unable to deal with increased traffic from Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai said that the financing of National Highway 38 would reduce dependence on State budget money which could be spent on other infrastructure projects. He asked Bac Ninh and Hai Duong authorities to provide fair compensation to households displaced by the work to ensure the project was finished on time. In 2010, the transport ministry approved a project to upgrade National Highway 38 running through the two provinces with funding of VND541 billion from State and provincial budgets. The work began in Februray, 2011, but until April, 2014, just 30 per cent of the work was completed due to a financial shortage. Thus, the ministry and Bac Ninh Province People's Committee proposed Prime Minister to put the project under a BOT contract. Power bills were not miscalculated: ERA There were no errors detected during the recording and calculation of power usage by consumers, said Dinh The Phuc, deputy head of the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade. In responding question on the jump in electricity bills last month, Phuc told the press meeting held in Ha Noi yesterday that ERA checked electricity counters with presence of customers. He said customers whose complaints on the sudden rise in their bills agreed with the conclusion and checked their electrical appliances. "The new electricity retail prices that will apply to six price levels instead of the seven levels doesn't made the prices increased," he added. The new calculation, which took effect from the beginning of June, stipulates that power tariffs for households consuming 0-50kWh will be 92 per cent of the average price, 95 per cent for 51-100kWh, 110 per cent for 101-200kWh, 138 per cent for 201-300kWh, 154 per cent for 301-400kWh and 159 per cent for more than 401kWh. Deputy minister Do Thang Hai added that 76 per cent of households claimed on the rise had a power consumption of more than 400kWh. Of which there was no households had consumption of less than 100kWh. "If households consume power of over 400kWh, the bills would be higher," Hai said. Nguyen Quang Trung, deputy general director of Ha Noi Electricity Corporation (EVN Ha Noi) said the hot weather, that included three heat waves hitting the Some districts like Hoang Mai and Dong Da, power consumption in June was 40-60 per cent higher than that of May. He said the average power consumption last month was 42.7kWh a day, rising 23.4 per cent over May. Alone in June, the number of customers which had power consumption 1.5 times higher than May in Ha Noi was 686,336 and accounted for 34 per cent of the total. Around 348,000 households or 17 per cent of the total had power consumption in June double than the previous month. The ERA also said the electricity sector would ensure power supply for production and living in July. Vietnam works to manage, eliminate POPs The Environment Administration under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on July 8 held a conference to launch a project to update The two-year project, funded by the United Nations Development Programme’s Global Environment Facility (GEF), has been conducted since 2013 with the aim of realising According to Dr. Nguyen Anh Tuan from the Pollution Control Department, the project includes five components, including stocktaking POPs, assessing the national capacity in implementing the convention, and defining priorities of the plan. The plan, to be updated with a system of actions and synchronic measures to better meet requirements of the convention, will be submitted to the Prime Minister for approval, and then sent to the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention. Tran The Loan, deputy head of the Pollution Control Department under the Environment General Department, noted that The country will also renew the plan with more effective policies, laws, management institutions, technologies and financial sources, while designing a roadmap to implement it, thus contributing to protecting people’s health and the environment from POPs, he said. Signed in Fire sweeps through 10ha of forest in Thua Thien-Hue A fire gutted completely 10 hectares of planted forest in Quang Loi commune, Quang Dien district, the central The forests, aged nearly 10 years old, were planted on sand. Scorching weather and strong wind were attributed to the quick spread of the fire, said Le Truong Luu, Vice Chairman of the Thua Thien Hue People’s Committee. According to local residents, the fire might be caused by human carelessness. Central localities are facing a high risk of forest fire due to hot weather in the dry season, which normally lasts from May to August. Last year, 250 fires occurred across the country, ruining 965ha of forest. Clean water reaches 72 pct of More than 2.93 million people in rural and mountainous areas in the Central Highlands of Tay Nguyen, or 72 percent of these areas’ total population, now have access to clean water, according to the Steering Committee for Tay Nguyen. Dak Lak is leading the five Central Highlands provinces in this field, with 81 percent of all its people having clean water for their daily use. The result is attributed to great investment in drilling wells and building water storage facilities and pipeline systems in areas where local people previously had to depend on natural streams and rivers for water. Dak Lak province alone built 90 water supply systems and drilled more than 220,000 wells in remote areas in Ea Sup, Cu M’gar, Krong Ana, Ma D’rak and Buon Don districts, bringing clean water to each household. From now to 2020, Central Highlands provinces will strive to raise the rate of households having access to clean water to 85 percent in rural areas and 100 percent in urban ones. The Central Highlands encompasses the provinces of Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Lam Dong, Gia Lai and Kon Tum with a population of over 5.4 million people, 25.7 percent of them ethnic minority.- Showers, thunderstorms spread across southern region The southern region will see showers and thunderstorms over wide areas on July 9, according to the Thunderstorms might be accompanied by vortex and gusts. Highest temperatures swing between 29-32 degrees Celsius. Rain will begin to abate from July 10. While It will be sunny in daytime and showery at night in the northern region. Temperatures will average 32-35 degrees. However, strong southwesterly winds have stirred mid and southern Reports see economic growth up in Can Tho, down in Hanoi Economic growth rate reached 8.96 percent in Can Tho City in the first half this year, up 0.38 percent year on year while it was 7.4 percent in According to Le Hung Dung, chairman of the People’s Committee in Can Tho City, the city’s Consumer Price Index increased 5.89 percent and export turnover hit US$583 million. He was reporting to Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh at a meeting to the city leaders on local socioeconomic conditions, held on July 8. In the first six months, the city provided jobs to nearly 22,300 people, accounting for 45 percent of plan, said Dung. Can Tho City should continue to promote effective production modals in order to linking between production and market demand and applying science and technology, Mr. Ninh said. The city should also intensify activities to expand the market, fight against smuggling and counterfeits, control inflation amidst volatile petrol prices in the world, and ensure security, national defense and social safety and order. Most key economic industries saw the growth rate lower than that in the same period last year and the city’s plan. Vaccination campaign to be administered in schools The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has asked its sub-departments to coordinate with local medical clinics to broadcast the need of vaccination to the community. Following the Ministry of Health’s requirement on vaccination campaign of measles and rubella in schools, MOET has ordered to enhance scattering the importance of immunization against measles and rubella for students and teachers across the country. The education authority also encouraged parents to participate in the vaccination. The People’s Committee in After discusses with the Ministry of Education and Training, the Committee issued the guideline asking the Education Department to stop the program which has not been approved by the city Committee and make assessment of the available program, Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE), which was allowed by the Ministry in state-run schools. The city's Education Department was asked to make a detailed assessment of every aspect of IGCSE. Moreover, it has to explain the reason to stop the approved program and how it affects students and parents’ interest. Before, on June 23, the Department and EMG Education Corporation announced that the Department had talked with the UK's Ministry of Education on the implementation of the new English teaching program called “Integrated program”, a new curriculum for teaching and learning Maths, Science and English at schools in HCMC, and the program would be piloted in the academic year 2014-2015. Two following days, the Department sent guidelines for registering the program to schools in the city. However, on June 30, the British Embassy in Vietnam issued a press release quoting British Consul General Douglas Barnes that there is no agreement between the Department for Education (DfE) of the Standard and Testing Agency (STA) from the UK with the city's Education Department and /or EMG to supply curriculum test materials or to qualify assure any aspect of teaching delivered in HCMC nor any official talk has been made to DfE or STA to discuss such arrangement. Baby girl in Dong Thap dies of suffocation not vaccine: Medical expert The death of a two month old baby girl is caused by breathing failure owing to a liquid in lung, said Dr. Nguyen Ngoc An, director of the Department of Medicine in the Mekong delta province of Dong Thap. Two month old girl Vo Thi Bao Tram in Truong Xuan Commune in Thap Muoi District was taken to local medical clinic for vaccination on July 7. 35 neonates were administered vaccine shots at the clinic on the day. At 2 PM, Tram suffered high fever and her parents took her to the local clinic. She was given the medicine to reduce fever. However, at 1.30 Am on July 8, she was hospitalized but doctors said that she died before. Province health authority coordinated with Pasteur Institute in Encephalitis kills 5 in Vietnam Encephalitis is plaguing in 31 provinces and cities in The disease mainly affects children under the age of 15 yet hospitals also received some adults suffering encephalitis in last months. There have been an increasing number of Japanese encephalitis children. A 20 year old female patient in Dong Anh, Dr. Nguyen Trung Cap, deputy head of the Emergency Ward, said that this patient was experiencing convulsion fits, feeble four limbs and she was put on breathing machine. It is anticipated that she can't survive and she would suffer after-effects on the brain nerve and kinetic system. Dr. Nguyen Trung Cap added that two more female patients in Dr. Cap advised people not to neglect the disease though Japanese encephalitis rarely occurs in adults. However, medical experts are worried as there are three severe Japanese encephalitis cases on adults. Soon after they have lasting high fever, headache along with vomiting, people should go to hospital in order to minimize after-effects. 129 children in the Dr. Do Thien Hai, deputy head of the Infection Sector, said that from end of June, Japanese encephalitis children increased dramatically. Noticeably, the proportion of infection cases this year is 20 percent higher than previous years. Dr. Tran Dac Phu, who heads the Department of Preventive Medicine, said that encephalitis due to virus including Japanese Encephalitis is a fatal disease as it is caused by various viruses. Signs of the disease include high fever and other symptoms relating to injuries in the central nervous system including headache, sensitivity to light, general malaise, stiff neck, stiff back, vomiting, confusion, memory loss, seizures, paralysis and coma. Children aged below 15 are most vulnerable to the disease. Encephalitis can appear all year round, but its peak times are in June, July and August, According to the Department of Preventive Medicine' latest statistic, of the total number of patients, 65.8 percent were in the northern region, while 12. 3, 17.5 and 4.4 percent were in the central, southern regions and Central Highlands respectively. Cases are scattered. There is no specific vaccine against viral encephalitis, except Japanese encephalitis, said Dr. Tran Dac Phu. Vaccine against Japanese encephalitis has been included in the National Expanded Immunization program since 1997 and immunization has been carried out at 580 districts of 60 cities and provinces across the country. The Department of Preventive Medicine asked municipal and provincial people's committee to mobilize the participation of all sectors and take measures against viral encephalitis and improve treatment efficiency to minimize mortality and bar cross-infection at health facilities. Early detection of infected people is required to isolate the area and handle the outbreaks. Vaccination should be conducted among children in the age to ensure high rate of immunization. People should clean the houses and farms to prevent mosquitoes and sleep in mosquito-nets. Source: VNN/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/ND |
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