Bernama 31 October 2008

As well as those who suffer from malnutrition, the increasing trend of people who are overweight, obese or who suffer from non-contagious chronic diseases places a further burden on Vietnam's health care sector, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) quoted Deputy Health Minister Tran Chi Liem as saying here. The official made this remark whilst attending an international nutrition seminar, with particular focus on obesity, hosted by the Nutrition Institute in Hanoi on Oct 30, which drew the participation of dozens of scientists from Vietnam, the United States and Japan.

Deputy Minister Liem said the government has made great efforts to implement a national nutrition strategy for the 2001-2010 period, as well as carrying out a programme to prevent childhood malnutrition. He added that the government has also focused on limiting the increase in numbers of those who are overweight or obese.

According to the Nutrition Institute, Vietnam's malnutrition rate is around 33.9 percent, while the rate for obesity or those who are overweight is 16.3 percent. The institute also said the number of obesity cases tends to rise in direct proportion to age, occurs more often in women rather than men, and in urban rather than rural areas. Some factors behind overweightness and obesity were pointed out, including overconsumption of high-protein meats, fast-food and alcoholic drinks, as well as an inactive or sedentary lifestyle.

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Xinhuaews 31 November 2008

The communist parties of China and Vietnam on Friday started a seminar on issues concerning agriculture, rural areas and farmers. "As both China and Vietnam are countries with a dominant rural population, the issues of agriculture, rural areas and farmers have always been high on the agenda of the two countries' ruling communist parties," a senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Zhou Yongkang, told the seminar. The seminar was the fourth theory study jointly held by the CPC and the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV).

With the theme of "theory and practice on agriculture, rural areas and farmers -- experiences of China and Vietnam," the three-day seminar gathered about 60 representatives from the two countries. While addressing the seminar, Zhou Yongkang, one of the nine-member Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, said the CPC has given priority to the issues of agriculture, rural areas and farmers. "We stick to regarding agriculture as a cornerstone, keeping the orientation of the socialist market economy reform, following the agricultural modernization path with Chinese characteristics and ensuring the farmers' material

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interests and democratic rights," he said. "China's rural areas are undergoing changes, which brought about both favorable conditions and challenges."

The seminar came weeks after the CPC's latest meeting in October had adopted a decision to promote the rural reform and the CPV discussed at its annual session about how to boost the rural reform. "Standing at a critical development stage, the communist parties of the two countries simultaneously focused on rural issues. Thus the seminar on this topic will be of great use," Zhou said. Zhou said he hoped the theoretic experts would make good use of this opportunity to talk freely, learn from each other and turn the study into a driving force for the countries' development. In his speech at the seminar, Truong Tan Sang, member of the Political Bureau of the CPV Central Committee, said the seminar offered a chance for scholars to exchange theoretic findings and practical experiences on rural issues. The seminar will vigorously promote the development of the two countries and enrich their comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation, Sang said. Located in the coastal province of Khanh Hoa, Nha Trang was the second leg of Zhou's five-day visit here. He will also travel to Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam.

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AFP 30 October 2008

Hollywood star Michelle Yeoh joined more than 1,000 Vietnamese children Thursday on a city march to promote motorcycle crash helmets and reduce traffic deaths on the country's chaotic roads. Vietnam's communist government has enforced helmet use for adults for almost one year in the motorcycle-choked nation but the law has not been extended to children and youths riding as passengers. Yeoh -- who acted in the Bond film "Tomorrow Never Dies" and the martial arts saga "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" -- joined the march through Ho Chi Minh City organised by the Asia Injury Prevention (AIP) Foundation. "Since last year when the law was enacted, overnight 80-90 percent of riders started wearing helmets," she told AFP. "But the kids are wearing baseball caps instead ... The parents need to protect the children. "Unfortunately, many parents reject helmets for their kids out of a mistaken perception that helmets are unsafe for children."

The march through Vietnam's busiest city was part of a global campaign aiming to cut the world's annual road death toll of 1.3 million people. "Today, tomorrow and every day, we will see at least 2,000 young children killed or seriously injured on the world's roads," Malaysian-born Yeoh said. "This is unacceptable, preventable and we have to stop it. We have the vaccines for this disease: helmets, seatbelts, speed enforcement, safe road design. We just need to use them." At least 12,000 people die on Vietnam's roads every year. The road death rate of 27 fatalities per 100,000 people compares to about 10 per 100,000 in Western Europe, said the AIP Foundation.

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AFP 30 October 2008

The United States on Wednesday launched aid projects for disabled people in Vietnam with one million dollars in funding allocated by Congress last year for Agent Orange and dioxin relief. The three US Agency for International Development (USAID) projects will help people with disabilities in the central city of Danang access health services and gain skills to find jobs, the US embassy said in a statement. During the Vietnam war, US forces sprayed about 80 million litres (21 million gallons) of Agent Orange, which contains the toxin dioxin, and other herbicides to deprive their enemies of forest cover and food crops. Washington has never accepted responsibility for the millions of Vietnamese people who the communist government says have died or suffered from direct or second-generation disabilities due to Agent Orange.

However, both sides have worked together to use the three million dollars approved by Congress in May 2007 to clean up environmental damage surrounding dioxin storage sites and to support health programmes. The remaining two million dollars will be used for other dioxin-related programmes in Danang, site of the largest wartime US airbase, which has been identified as one of several dioxin "hotspots" in central and southern Vietnam.

To date, the US government has given more than 46 million dollars in assistance to people with disabilities in Vietnam, said the US embassy. "The American people are committed to bringing a better future to the disabled who can go far in life if given the assistance, encouragement and opportunities for education and employment," said Ambassador Michael Michalak.

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UCAN 28 October 2008

Church leaders hope their newly re-established national Caritas organization, which the government banned 32 years ago, will stimulate the local Church's charitable activities. Five local bishops and 80 nuns, priests and laypeople from congregations and dioceses throughout the country attended the inaugural conference of Caritas Vietnam, held Oct. 22-23 at Xuan Loc Diocesan Pastoral Center in Long Khanh, 1,630 kilometers south of Ha Noi.

Indian Bishop Yvon Ambroise of Tuticorin, Caritas Asia president and one of seven vice presidents of Caritas Internationalis, American Monsignor Robert J. Vitillo, special advisor to Caritas Internationalis on HIV and AIDS, attended. Five representatives from Caritas Germany, Secours Catholique (Caritas France) and the U.S. Church's Catholic Relief Services were also present at the conference organized by the Vietnam Bishops'

Conference's Episcopal Commission for Charitable and Social Action.

"We thank God for the reestablishment of Caritas Vietnam, which will stimulate the local Church's charitable and social activities more effectively and integrate them within the network of Caritas Internationalis," Bishop Pierre Nguyen Van Nhon of Da Lat, head of the Vietnam Bishops' Conference, stated at the conference. Bishop Nhon expressed his gratitude to the government, who had given its official approval for Caritas Vietnam on July 2. The Church leader also hoped government authorities would create favorable conditions for the national Church organization to conduct its activities and develop society.

The 70-year-old prelate noted urgent needs to educate youths, provide health care for women and children, assist poor and marginalized people as well as victims of natural disasters, and protect the environment. "We hope Caritas Vietnam will make positive contributions that help relieve the suffering of our brothers and sisters and improve their living conditions." Caritas, Bishop Nhon clarified, is not only a charitable organization but also focuses on community development to urge people to care for the disadvantaged. Meanwhile, it is also an association for Catholic action that asks all Christians to show God's charity and preach Christ's Good News by helping the poor, he added.

Father Antoine Nguyen Ngoc Son, secretary general of the bishops' commission for social action, told UCA News that the South Vietnam Bishops' Conference established Caritas Vietnam in 1965. It provided relief for disaster victims, war victims, poor people and disabled people. In June 1976, however, the communist government, which had reunified the country in April 1975, banned Caritas Vietnam and confiscated all its facilities. Father Son had told UCA News previously that diocesan committees for social and charitable work that tried to fill the void lacked skilled personnel, and some had no staff. A few dioceses still have not established such committees.

Bishop Dominic Nguyen Chu Trinh of Xuan Loc, head of the commission, said in his opening speech that wars and ideological conflicts left Caritas Vietnam a victim of misunderstanding about its charitable activities. "Today, with this inauguration ceremony, we believe those misunderstandings and suspicions exist no longer, so that all people can cooperate with one another in the work of building love. Yes, only love really exists forever," he stated. Bishop Trinh, 68, promised Caritas will work with the government for the nation's development and prosperity, especially in efforts to alleviate people's poverty and misery, and to prevent illnesses.

During the two-day conference, participants approved the national organization's goals, guidelines, mission statement, operational principles and organizational structure. Accordingly, Caritas aims to serve abandoned people, street children, orphans, prostitutes, ill-treated people and victims of exposure to toxic chemicals, migrant workers, disabled people, mental patients, people with leprosy, drug and alcohol abusers, and people infected with HIV or AIDS.

Participants elected Bishop Trinh and Father Son as Caritas Vietnam's president and secretary general, respectively. They also decided to establish Caritas organizations in the country's 26 dioceses. Father Son said the national Caritas has officially opened a bank account in a state-run bank, noting that no Church organization had previously been allowed to have a bank account in post-1975 Vietnam.

Foreign Caritas representatives briefed participants on upcoming activities, and promised to help train local Church personnel and provide financial support. "We are very happy the local Church has re-established its Caritas after we prayed a long time for it," Monsignor Vitillo told UCA News. The president of Catholic HIV and AIDS Network added that Caritas Internationalis now has an opportunity to work closely with the local Church to serve the poor.

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DPA 27 October 2008

Vietnam's once-sizzling inflation rate slowed for the second straight month in October, but Vietnamese economists said Monday the government should not yet declare victory. "I am not reassured by the low inflation figure from October, because it doesn't prove that the government's tight monetary policy has succeeded," said Tran Duc Nguyen, an economist and informal government adviser.

Vietnam's consumer price index fell 0.2 per cent in October after rising 0.2 per cent in September. The figures bolstered a trend that has seen inflation fall since hitting a month-on-month high of 3.9 percent in May. Overall, prices have risen 26.7 per cent since last October. And economists said the slowing inflation might not be due to the government's tight credit policies in recent months, but to lucky external factors. "The government's tightened credit policy has only brought partial, preliminary success," said Vo Tri Thanh, a senior official at the Central Institute for Economic Management. "Vietnam had good luck in October, as world prices have been falling quite fast."

Experts said the decreases were largely due to lower world commodity and energy prices and domestic fuel price cuts, as well as tightened credit by Vietnamese banks. Thanh said Vietnam's macroeconomy faces a variety of risks, and stabilizing it should remain the government's top priority. Year-on-year inflation remains high, inflationary pressures still exist, bad debts burden many banks, and the country is running a high balance of payment deficit. "It will take time to overcome the domestic causes of inflation inside Vietnam," said Nguyen. Nguyen said the government should tighten credit for state-owned enterprises, but loosen it to the more efficient private sector, but he acknowledged that would be politically difficult.

Consumers continue to feel the pinch of high annual inflation. The Government Statistical Office said Saturday that year-on-year food prices were up 40.6 per cent in October, though down by 0.4 per cent against September. Prices for housing and construction materials increased 22.8 per cent year-on-year while declining 1.1 per cent month on month. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung last week told the National Assembly that the annual inflation rate for 2008 would be 24 percent, and said the government aims to bring it below 15 percent next year.

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