SOCIAL IN BRIEF 27/9

436 students get Lawrence S. Ting scholarships

The Lawrence S. Ting Community Support Fund on September 25 handed over scholarships worth VND3.68 billion (over US$206,000) to 436 students at high schools and universities nationwide.

The scholarships are part of an aid package of VND8.74 billion which was presented on the same day by the fund and the Phu My Hung Joint Venture Company.

Apart from the scholarships, the fund granted over VND 5 billion to a series of charitable organisations in Vietnam for their operations in 2010.

On this occasion, the Cathay United Bank, through the fund, provided scholarships worth VND 600 million to pupils who have made efforts to overcome difficult conditions, in Ho Chi Minh City and the central province of Quang Nam.

The Lawrence S.Ting has now handed out over 27,000 scholarships to outstanding students, especially those facing difficulties and poverty in remote areas nationwide.

Three border gates between Vietnam and Cambodia opened to traffic

Vietnam and Cambodia will open three border gates including Vietnam’s Xamat, Tay Ninh to Cambodia’s Trapeang Phlong; Tinh Bien, An Giang to Takeo and Ha Tien, Kien Giang to Lork Kam Pot in late September and early October. Under the agreement on land transport signed between the two countries in 2005, another border gate in MocBai, Tay Ninh was opened in 2006.

Hue cooperates with Thailand in tourism development

On September 25, Thua Thien-Hue Provincial People’s Committee held a working session with a delegation from the Thai Senate, led by Tunyaratt Achariyachai, head of the Senate Committee on Tourism, and agreed to advertise images of Hue and Thailand to encourage Thai tourists to visit Hue and vice versa.

Representatives of Thua Thien-Hue Provincial People’s Committee and the Thai Senate’s delegation reached an agreement on some issues relating to tourism and development through exploiting each other’s strengths and potential.

Mrs. Tunyaratt Achariyachai appreciated Hue’s potential and strengths for developing tourism, particularly its traditional culture, nature and the hospitality of Hue’s people to attract Thai visitors.

According to Thua Thien-Hue Provincial People’s Committee’s report, the locality now has 152 restaurants and hotels with over 5,200 bedrooms.

In 2008, Hue received over 1.7 million tourists, 20 percent of whom were from Thailand.

Diabetes prevention project gets underway

The Health Ministry and the National Hospital of Endocrinology held a conference in Hanoi on September 24 at the start of a national diabetes prevention project.

The project, approved by the government in late 2008, is part of a national programme to prevent HIV/AIDS and common diseases, especially dangerous ones, until 2010.

On addressing the conference, also attended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Vietnam, the Director of the National Hospital of Endocrinology Nguyen Van Tien said that diabetes was one of the diseases in the country to have seen a large increase in the numbers of cases.

According to the health official, a survey conducted in 2008 showed that about 5.7 percent of the Vietnamese population have contracted the disease.

However, it is completely possible to prevent diabetes at community level, he said.
The project targets a number of goals, including re-training all local health officials taking part in the project, making sure that 100 percent of provincial health officials are able to recognise people at high risk, ensuring that at least 20 percent of all provincial health officials engaged in treating the disease have necessary skills and making sure that 70 percent of high-risk people have a consultation with health officials.

It also aims to step up information campaigns as well as strengthen the community level diabetes prevention network.

In August, the government provided an additional budget of over VND29 billion for the project.

‘Tourism Year’ to start next month in Hanoi

A year-long program to promote tourism in Hanoi will start next month, marking the 999th anniversary of the capital city, the Vietnam National Tourism Administration announced Friday.
Under the theme “Thang Long-Hanoi, the Millennium Convergence”, the National Tourism Year 2010 program in Hanoi will officially open on October 10 with quan ho folk singing, martial arts performances and calligraphy exhibitions.

Fifteen other major events will then be organized throughout next year, said Nguyen Van Tuan, head of the administration.

The National Tourism Year was initiated in 2003 by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism. Each year a locality will be selected to host the program to promote local tourism products.

Flood shelters assure villagers in central Vietnam

A community house built as a refuge center for villagers during floods opened Friday in the central city of Da Nang.

The two-story house was built to accommodate residents of Phong Nam village in Hoa Chau Commune, Hoa Vang District, during the flooding season.

The 228 square-meter house will also offer a space for organizations in the village to host community activities.

Huynh Kiem, chairman of Hoa Chau Commune People’s Committee, said the house made locals feel “safe and excited.”

Kiem said most villages in the commune were low-lying and usually hit hard by floods during heavy rains. In 2007, flooding killed one, injured seven and forced nearly 500 families in the commune to evacuate.

Phan Dien, former member of the Politburo and member of the Communist Party’s Secretariat, said at the opening ceremony on Friday that more houses like it would be built next year in the central region.

The house cost VND1.1 billion (US$61,400) to build, according to local authorities.
Meanwhile, residents of Da Nang’s Hoa Quy Ward, Ngu Hanh Son District, said they were now less afraid of the rainy season as two similar houses had been built for them last year.

Man killed by fish-feed mixer in Mekong Delta

A young man in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang was crushed to death when he fell into a fish-feed mixer Thursday.

Le Van Dang, 21, was using a spade to turn over the feed in the mixer, some 1.5-2 meters in diameter, when he fell in.

Dang was killed instantly by spinning bars that mix the food, according to local residents in Chau Phu district’s Khanh Hoa Hamlet.

The mixer was at a tra catfish farm belonging to Dang’s neighbor, Nguyen Long Hai.
Three people have been killed by falling into fish-feed mixers in the district since the beginning of this year, local newspaper Tien Phong reported.

The mixers are made by private businesses that don’t test for safety, Tuoi Tre reported.
PV