Vietnam pays attention to child care
Dang
Mortality rates among children aged 1-5 years went beyond the targets initially set for 2005, the Deputy Director said, citing the death rate of 1.8% among children aged under one and of 2.8% among children aged under five, as compared with the targets of 3% and 3.6%, respectively.
The malnutrition rate among five years old children was also reduced from 33.8% to 25.2% in the period, he added.
According to him, in the five years, special attention was paid to children with particular difficulties, with various programmes and projects being carried out. These programmes included the prevention and improvement of the situations of street children, sexually abused children and children working in hard, toxic or dangerous conditions as well as care of orphans, abandoned children, children with HIV/AIDS and child victims of Agent Orange.
In 2005, the Government allocated more than VND 20 billion from the State budget for the assistance of children with particular difficulties. The Vietnam Commission for Population, Families and Children mobilised hundreds of millions of VND to finance activities to help street children return to their families and to provide loans and vocational training for poor children in
Vietnam
In the period, information dissemination was boosted through film screenings, meetings and forums to raise public awareness of child protection and child abuse prevention.
In addition, social services and consultancy services were put into operation, attracting a large number of managers, psychologists, education specialists, lawyers and doctors to get involved in helping children with particular difficulties.
One of these services was a telephone line launched by Plan International to provide consultancy for children. The line helped boost child care and protection, as well as the implementation of children's rights, especially the rights to participation.