Thứ Hai, 7 tháng 9, 2015

Social News 7/9


Slow progress on highway upgrade


 Slow progress on highway upgrade, HCM City heart institute saves lives with French association support, PM starts power supply project to Lai Son Island, 3 month old baby dies after Quinvaxem vaccination

Workers upgrade National Highway 1 crossing southern Binh Thuan province. Slow progress has been blamed on the incompetence of the investors and the contractor.
About 21 of the 38 projects to upgrade National Highway No 1 from the central Thanh Hoa Province to the southern Can Tho Province have been completed in 18 months.
Head of the Transport Engineering Construction and Quality Management Bureau Tran Xuan Sanh said this at a meeting with the transport ministry for reviewing the progress of the National Highway No 1 upgrade project on Thursday.
Work on all sections would be completed by the end of this year, and National Highway No 1 would be opened to traffic soon after that, he said.
The upgrade of National Highway No 1 from Ha Noi to Can Tho covers 1,475km. It is divided into two sections that connect Ha Noi with Thanh Hoa Province, and Thanh Hoa with Can Tho.
All National Highway No 1 projects had maintained the progress and quality requested by the ministry, Sanh said, except for the Nam Binh Dinh and Bac Binh Dinh projects. He blamed the projects' sluggish progress on the financial incompetence of the investors and the contractor.
Sanh asked the investors to work with relevant agencies to mobilise all equipments and human resources to complete the two projects before October 30 this year. He said all subsidence seen in completed projects (the section from Thanh Hoa to Can Tho Province) had been repaired.
Immunisation does save lives
Most Vietnamese children aged 12-23 months were fully vaccinated before their first birthday, experts told a workshop held by Viet Nam's Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS2014) yesterday.
MICS, the world's largest source of statistical data on the well-being of women and children worldwide, indicated that while more than 82 per cent of Vietnamese children aged 12-23 months were fully vaccinated, the coverage was higher among Kinh (the Vietnamese majority) children at 84.6 per cent compared to ethnic minority children at 69.4 per cent.
Poor households possessed the lowest coverage at 72.2 per cent, compared to 87 per cent coverage in households of other wealth categories.
Experts noted that immun-isation played a key role in the country achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to reduce child mortality by two-thirds by 2015.
The report also indicated disparities in the death rate for children-under-five. While it remained relatively low in cities and rural areas at 20-22 per 1,000 births, the mortality rate was high among ethnic minority populations at 43 deaths per 1,000 births.
Viet Nam has made significant progresses in providing the population with improved drinking water sources and sanitation.
Ninety eight per cent of the urban population and 89 per cent of the rural population now have access to safe drinking water and 79 per cent of households use improved sanitation facilities.
However, MICS also reported only 75 per cent of ethnic minority households had access to improved drinking water sources and only 73.3 per cent of rural households had sanitation facilities. The situation was particularly dire among ethnic minority groups where only 47 per cent had access to sanitation facilities.
Data from MICS 2014 indicated that nearly 94 per cent of Vietnamese women went through labour with the assistance of skilled birth attendants. However, the figure dropped to around 75 per cent for women from ethnic minorities. They were also reported to be likely to give births at a younger age 15-19.
In child education, the country has made significant strides. Ninety eight per cent of children of age attended primary schools. The figure was only slightly lower in the Central Highlands and mountainous provinces at 95.5 per cent.
MICS are organised by the General Statistic Office of Viet Nam and UNICEF to provide data on the progress of Viet Nam's development goals.
Acacias, shrimps make Quang Ninh farmer rich
With an annual income of more than 2.5 billion VND (111,200 USD), a farmer in the northern province of Quang Ninh has fellow farmers queuing up to learn his new techniques in agriculture production.
For years, Pham Van Tan, 53, Cam Pha City's Mong Duong ward, has taught other households to apply technology to boost production and therefore improve their living conditions.
Seeing the abundance of unused land and barren hills near his house, he decided to quit his job at Mong Duong Coal Joint Stock Company. He then asked local authorities for 59ha of land for planting trees to improve his financial situation.
He had to use his family's savings and take a 30 million VND (1,335 USD) bank loan for his business.
"At first, I thought finding capital was the most difficult thing but soon I realised my lack of knowledge in science and technology was a bigger challenge," Tan recalled.
But with determination and the encouragement of local authorities, he visited places where he could learn planting techniques such as in Lang Son, Yen Bai. He even travelled to China to learn.
He first found success in 1997 when his family nursed enough acacia seedlings for 10ha of forest.
Five years later, the number of acacia seedlings by his family nursery was enough for the family's 30ha forest with the surplus sold to neighbouring farmers.
The first batch of acacia trees were ready in 2000 but Tan didn't see much profit as the price for the trees was not high.
Then in 2003, acacia became in demand. It is used in coal mining and as material for paper and plywood. He earned about 50 million VND (2,225 USD) per ha.
The secret of his success lies in his planting method. According to Tan, planting acacia for paper material is not as effective as planting for a 10-year cycle.
Thanks to this he earned about 200 million VND (8,900 USD), a fourfold increase compared to normal planting.
Thanks to the vast area of land and abundant food, he bred white-leg shrimp at his 4ha pond.
In 2009, Tan expanded the pond and started to breed shrimp on an industrial scale. Now, he harvests 20 tonnes of shrimp a year.
Inspired by Tan's success, his fellow farmers decided to follow him and listened to his advice. As a result, many have escaped poverty.
Apart from guiding other households on how to grow trees in an appropriate manner and how to breed shrimp, he created jobs for 30 labourers with an average income of 4 million VND (178 USD) per person per month.
Thanks to his efforts, Tan was presented with certificates of merit by the Prime Minister.
Gala heats up enthusiasm of Vietnamese students in Australia
A gala marking the 18th founding anniversary of the Vietnamese Dynamic Students Association (VDS) in the Australian state of New South Wales took place in Sydney city on September 4.
More than 10 singing and dancing performances and the Miss University contest excited participants who were Vietnamese students from universities across New South Wales.
The event was supported by the Vietnamese Consulate General in the state, the 4 Nations International Education and Migration Services, the King’s Own Institute, and the Education Centre of Australia.
It is an annual activity of the students’ association, which also organises an array of other events such as the VietFest and sports competitions like Easter Sport and Winter Sport while providing helpful advice on the study and settlement in Australia.
The VDS’s efforts over the past years have connected and received warm response of Vietnamese students from vocational schools, colleges and universities across New South Wales such as the University of Sydney, the University of New South Wales, the University of Technology Sydney, the Macquarie University and the University of Wollongong.
Thua Thien- Hue invests 5 bln VND in tropical rainforest project
The central province of Thua ThienHue has decided to invest over 5 billion VND (227,000 USD) in a tropical rainforest project.
According to the Standing Deputy Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Phan Ngoc Tho, the project will cover over 67 hectares in An Tay ward, Hue city and in Thuy Bang commune, Huong Thuy town from 2015-2020.
The project aims to conserve and preserve biological diversity and the genes of typical forest floras in the central coastal provinces, serve scientific studies and ecological tourism in the region and increase public awareness of protecting natural resources and the living environment.
The province has urged authorities to collect sample specimens of rocks, minerals and plants and conduct scientific research studies.
The tropical rainforest has evolved over nearly 200 million years from the dinosaur epoch. Today, tropical rainforests account for only 7 percent of the earth’s land surface but half of the world’s total species. In Asia, tropical rainforests span from Sri Lanka and west India to Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Tropical rainforests are overfilled with life from the forest floor up to the treetops.-
Japanese firm studies using waste as fuel
Japan's Kawasaki Heavy Industries Co., Ltd is conducting studies for a pilot project to use solid waste as fuel in cement factories around the country, the Ministry of Construction said.
The project will cost 3.8 billion JPY (31.5 million USD), with Japan providing 2.6 billion JPY, Dau Tu (Investment Review) cited the ministry’s source.
It will install equipment at cement factories to convert solid waste and sewage into gas.
HCM City heart institute saves lives with French association support
Tens of thousands of patients have had their lives saved in the last 23 years by doctors at the Ho Chi Minh City Heart Institute.
Over 25,000 patients with complicated heart problems have been cured at the infirmary, with support from France’s Alain Carpentier association, since it was established in 1992.
The hospital also gives free surgery and treatment to poor patients across Vietnam.
Over 6,700 impoverished patients have had free operations that cost VND230 billion (US$10.2 million) at the institute.
In addition, 96 surgeons and nearly 500 medical staff of the heart facility have carried out charitable health checks on 12,000 patients in many provinces and cities.
Doctor Nguyen Van Phan, head of the surgery department of the Ho Chi Minh City Heart Institute, said his infirmary needs only one surgery to both treat valvular problems and switch the heart rate of a patient.
Seeing many heart patients in Vietnam die due to heart problems before 1992, Professor Duong Quang Trung, former director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, flew to France and asked for help from Professor Alain Carpentier.
The professor is also the chairman of the Alain Carpentier association.
The French association answered the call for help from Vietnam and the first complicated heart surgery was conducted in 1992, and it was a success, as expected.
“In general, the heart institute can now perform most complicated heart surgeries as other developed nations do,” said Doctor Do Quang Huan, director of the institute.
To lower the overwhelming number of patients flocking from other provinces and cities to seek treatment at the Ho Chi Minh City Heart Institute, the infirmary has run cooperation programs to transfer technology and heart surgery techniques to provincial hospitals.
The cooperation has shortened the length of the waiting list at the institute from 10,000 patients per annum in the first ten years to 800 patients a year now.
Cable car greenlighted for Vietnam’s nature reserve
Khanh Hoa authorities have approved a US$15 million project to build a cable car system to the Hon Ba Nature Reserve, a popular tourist attraction on a mountain some 57 km (35 miles) from Nha Trang.
An eco-cultural tourism area will also be established to attract more tourists to the Hon Ba Mount, according to the project.
According to the investor, Hon Ba – Yersin Tourism Investment Joint Stock Company, Hon Ba is expected to attract up to 1.5 million tourists every year once the project completes.
Currently, the nature reserve attracts about 800,000 tourists annually.
The new tourism area will be established on an area of 190 hectares (470 acres) on top of the Hon Ba Mount, on an altitude ranging from 1,400-1,578 meters.
The 6.2-km cable system of France’s Poma Company will connect the Da Han Stream and the mountain peak.
Currently, Hon Ba is reachable by cars and motorbikes.
Soaring 1,578 meters above the coastal plains of Khanh Hoa Province, Hon Ba is 18 degrees Celsius even in the middle of summer.
It was the place that Alexandre Yersin, the Swiss-born French bacteriologist and doctor, decided to climb 90 years ago and stay to do his pharmaceutical research.
The devoted doctor is known worldwide for co-discovering the bacillus, a genus of bacteria causing a zoonotic disease that can kill most infected humans within days.
Yersin created a path to the top of the mountain in 1915 after discovering that Hon Ba had similar climate and soil to Da Lat, which were conducive to growing cinchona, from whose bark quinine is made.
PM starts power supply project to Lai Son Island
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung launched a project to supply power to Lai Son island commune in Kien Hai District, the southern province of Kien Giang yesterday, benefiting 1,956 households.
According to the Southern Power Corporation, a 110-kilovolt transmission line will be installed with a total cost of VND368 billion (US$16.4 million). The 43.9-kilometre-long line includes 19.4-km inland and 24.5-km sea-crossing segments using 48 power poles.
A 110-kV transformer station with two 25-MVA transformers will also be constructed. The project is scheduled to be completed in April 2016.
Addressing the launching ceremony, PM Dung said the project, the country's largest sea crossing 110kV line, was expected to boost local socio-economic growth, improve the living conditions of locals and attract investment.
It would help reduce the use of diesel generators on the island, easing pollution, and improve defence on the island, helping protect national sovereignty and sovereignty rights over the sea and other islands, he said.
He praised efforts of the Electricity of Viet Nam, the Southern Power Corporation and Kien Giang government in implementing the project, meeting the demand for socio-economic and tourism development in Lai Son.
Located in the southwest waters of the country and 60 kilometres southwest of Rach Gia City, Lai Son Island covers 1,095 hectares and has a population of 8,120 people.
Currently, local residents only have access to electricity for half the day using diesel generators, which greatly affects their economy and living conditions.
Lai Son is one of seven island communes benefiting from a programme to connect inshore islands in Kien Giang with the national power grid, with over VND1.5 trillion ($66.7 million) invested, bringing power to 8,600 households.
Lai Son is included in the first phase of the three-phase programme spanning from 2015-16. In the second phase, from 2016-18, power will be supplied to the four communes of Hon Nghe, Son Hai, Tien Hai and Hon Thom via a 22-kV transmission line with VND474 billion ($21 million) in total investment.
In the last phase from 2018-20, An Son and Nam Du communes will be connected to the power grid using a 22-kV undersea transmission line with a cost of VND664 billion ($29.5 million).
Also yesterday, PM Dung issued an order to kick off a construction project of a resort complex on Hon Thom Island and a cable car linking it with Phu Quoc Island, off the southern province of Kien Giang.
According to the project's investor Sun Group, the three-track cable car will be 8km long, connecting An Thoi town in Phu Quoc district and Hon Thom island.
Once completed, it is expected to be the world's longest three-track cable car system, longer than the 1.5km Mt. Fansipan cable which currently holds the record.
The cable car runs at an average speed of 8.5 metres per second and is capable of carrying 3,500 passengers per hour.
The first phase of the project costs approximately VND4.9 trillion (nearly US$218 million) and uses the most modern cable car technology imported from Austria-based producer, Doppelmayr Geraventa Group, renowned for building thousands of aerial ropeways worldwide, including in the Alps (France) and Table Mountain (South Africa).
The Hon Thom complex will be built into a world-class resort with a marina, hydro plane service, marine and cuisine villages alongside an entertainment park featuring adventure games and scuba diving.
The Sun Group aim to launch the cable car project on April 30, 2017 and believed the resort complex would improve local incomes and boost the province's economic growth, said its General Director Dang Minh Truong.
KinderWorld launches classroom on the high seas
Outward Bound Vietnam has recently rolled out an exciting new outdoor adventure-based experiential learning concept through a three-day sea expedition off Quy Nhon in Vietnam’s south central coast.
The expedition, which successfully ended on August 30, included members from Outward Bound Vietnam, Outward Bound Singapore and the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union of Binh Dinh province.
Outward Bound Vietnam is a life skills training centre belonging to KinderWorld Education Group, one of Singapore’s leading educational service providers in Vietnam.
The sea journey set off from Tan Thanh economic area in Cat Hai commune where the Outward Bound Vietnam campus will be developed. The members embarked on a 55 kilometre kayak journey to the surrounding islands off the waters of Binh Dinh before arriving at their final destination on Quy Nhon beach where training in kayaking technical skills were conducted for the members of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union of Binh Dinh. Other activities to promote the concept of outdoor adventure based experiential learning of Outward Bound  were also conducted for students from Cat Hai commune.
According to the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union of Binh Dinh, the event provided students with a valued opportunity to study as well as exchange experience and culture with skilled instructors who direct and organise life skills training programmes.
Lu Yi Gideon, assistant director (training), Outward Bound Singapore, said, “This expedition is a demonstration of KinderWorld’s capability and strong commitment to establish an Outward Bound Centre here in Binh Dinh. During the last couple of days, the new kayakers gain self-confidence as their paddling skills improve. They also displayed perseverance as they endured long days and tough conditions.”
“These three skills, self-confidence, resilience and teamwork are just some of the many important values that an Outward Bound programme can instill in our youth today,” Gideon added.
Outward Bound Vietnam is the newest member of Outward Bound International, a membership organisation of the worldwide Outward Bound network that currently operates in 34 countries and serves over 250,000 participants each year. Outward Bound Vietnam will soon open to all youths in Vietnam and Asia Pacific.
Ho Chi Minh City to spend $42mn on reservoirs to prevent flooding
Ho Chi Minh City authorities have decided to spend VND950 billion (US$41.8 million) building three large-scale reservoirs in the most flood-prone areas of three districts.
With a total area of ​​100ha, the three proposed reservoirs are expected to accumulate tens of millions of cubic meters of water and resolve the flooding problem in District 4, Tan Binh District, and Thu Duc District.
The largest will be the VND600 billion ($26.4 million) Go Dua reservoir measuring 95 hectares in area in Thu Duc​, followed by the VND300 billion ($13.2 million) Khanh Hoi facility covering 4.8 hectares in District 4, and the VND50 billion ($2.2 million) 0.4ha Bau Cat lake in Tan Binh.
The construction plan, which will be executed in 2016-20, will come along with other measures like canal dredging, better sewer system installation, and the building of new sewage plants.
What is more, the city will also expand some existing artificial lakes in many parks into reservoirs for water regulation.
Local authorities have also identified 103 other heavily-flooded spots, mainly in Binh Chanh District, Nha Be District, and District 9, to set up smaller-scale regulating reservoirs to prevent flooding.
However, these are the projects that will be implemented in the distant future.
Some experts told local news website VnExpress that the current solution to raise the level of roadbeds is merely short-lived as it just moves inundation from one place to another.
As a result, if implemented uniformly the construction of the new reservoirs and the upgrade of the existing lakes will help store up to tens of millions of cubic meter of rainwater and cut flooding by 30 percent, VnExpress reported.
In August, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung asked the southern city to solve the flooding problem in the next five years with a focus on rectifying the situation in the downtown area.
The head of the government also directed the municipal authorities to closely manage the construction of reservoirs for water retention, boost the dredging of canals, and restrict the extraction of groundwater to avoid subsidence risks.
According to officials, the total loans granted to prevent flooding in Ho Chi Minh City had topped VND25 trillion ($1.1 billion) by the end of 2014.
This means that in the next five years, the city will pay the principal and interest of about VND4.25 trillion ($187 million) per annum.
Ho Chi Minh City urged to relocate residents from 31 landslide-prone areas
The Ho Chi Minh City Transport Department has urged the municipal administration to direct authorities of three districts to urgently evacuate residents from 31 locations deemed most vulnerable to serious landslides.
A recent survey by the department found that 44 areas in these districts are prone to landslides, 31 of which are considered under especially dangerous situation.
The situation in the ten other locations are classified as dangerous, and the remaining three, less dangerous.
The 31 areas most vulnerable to the disaster are in Nha Be District, District 2 and District 8, according to the transport department.
The administrations of these districts should relocate all residents and their assets to safer places as soon as possible, it urged.
The dangerous and less dangerous locations have been identified in the districts of Can Gio, Binh Thanh, and Thu Duc.
The said survey has been conducted by the department in conjunction with the steering boards for flood and storm prevention and control of the city and its 24 districts.
The survey focused on residential areas located alongside the rivers, arroyos and canals across the city, according to the department.
3 month old baby dies after Quinvaxem vaccination
A 3-month-old boy in the highlands province of Dak Nong died on September 3 after being vaccinated with the 5-in-1 vaccine Quinvaxem.
Police in the highlands province of Dak Nong yesterday said that they were liaising with other related agencies to carry out autopsy on 3 month old Nguyen Duc Hieu in Nam Son village in Nam Xuan commune of Krong No District.
The boy was taken by his mother Tran Thi Quy, 18, to the commune's medical clinic for vaccination following a notice of the station on September 3.
After vaccination, doctors kept the baby in the clinic approximately 40 minutes and then allowed parents to take him home.
At home, he was still normal. However, at 4 PM on the same day, he was crying a lot, breastfed less and had breathing problem.
As the boy’s condition got worse, his parents brought him back to the clinic again at 6 PM yet there was no medical worker there. Accordingly, the boy was taken to the General Hospital in the district and he died on the way to the hospital.
Supposing that the baby's death was caused by medical staffs' mistakes and neglected behavior, ten relatives of the infant took the body to the clinic, asking to verify the case. Police officers soon arrived at the clinic to keep order and told the baby's relatives to keep calm, saying that police would investigate causes of the death and there would be harsh penalty on medical workers who made mistake to cause the death.
The baby's relatives agreed for an autopsy to be performed on the boy to find out the real cause of the death.
Talking with the press, a leader of the Department of Health in Dak Nong Province said that on the day, 20 babies had been injected with Quinvaxem vaccine at the health station in Nam Xuan Commune and they have been in good condition. Baby Hieu was kept 40 minutes at the station after vaccination as per the regulation and he was normal so doctors allowed his mother to take him home.
The Department of Health in Dak Nong Province sent experts to the health station in Nam Xuan Commune to seal the vaccine lot and work with police to verify the cause.
Quinvaxem is meant to prevent five common, potentially fatal childhood diseases: diphtheria (D), tetanus (T), pertussis (P, whooping cough), hepatitis B (HepB), and haemophilus influenza type B (Hib).
Ninh Thuan clean grape growing project wins startup contest
A project to grow clean grapes by a group of three from the south-central province of Ninh Thuan has grasped first prize at an agriculture startup contest co-held by the Business Studies and Assistance Center (BSA) and the Association of High-Quality Vietnamese Goods.
Beating 11 other projects, the project “Growing grapes in compliance with Vietnam’s Good Agriculture Practice (VietGAP) standards and providing cartons for local youths to transport grapes” of Hoang Quy Duong, Nguyen Thi Tuong Vy and Nguyen Van Quy pocketed the VND30 million first prize (US$1,335).
According to the authors, the project comes from their idea of boosting the value of green grape, a specialty of Ninh Thuan.
Traders usually force farmers to lower prices of green grapes to around half the market price, which is VND50,000-70,000, as farmers do not have a good plan to grow and harvest grapes, Duong said.
Therefore, around a year ago, Duong and his two friends contributed capital to grow grapes in accordance with VietGAP standards in different lots totalling three hectares.
The project has been able to turn out grapes of higher quality while harvest schedules for these lots are 10 to 15 days apart, thereby preventing an oversupply. The group has harvested two crops in the past year with total revenue of VND350 million.
A project of Le Minh Vuong from HCMC to produce micro-organic fertilizer combined with raising earthworms in pond came in second.
The third prize was given to a project of Tran Minh Tan from Dong Thap Province to set up a group of youth making cu kieu (pickled scallion heads) combined with tourism development.
Organizing the contest for the first time this year, BSA and the Association of High-Quality Vietnamese Goods hopes to encourage young people to tap the potential of the agricultural products in their hometown.
Apart from giving cash to the winning projects, BSA supports winners to find markets for their products by connecting them with distributors, supermarket operators and enterprises consuming agricultural products.
Source: VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri

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