Media Highlights

The Ho Chi Minh City Pasteur Institute got the go ahead from the Health Ministry to carry out petechial fever vaccine experiments for the first time in Viet Nam. The test will involve 180 people between two and 45 years old. The vaccine has been tested by many countries with a protection rate of between 83-100 per cent. The city has reported more than 6,000 cases of petechial fever and experts are worried about the disease spreading even further, particularly in District 3, according to the municipal Preventive Medical Department. Mosquitoes are the main carrier of the disease, which is dangerous for babies and overweight children. It can lead to respiratory and digestive problems. The spread was attributed to limited preventive measures being carried out.

Thirty nine poor single women and single mothers in the central city of Danang on August 25 received keys to their new houses as the last of 126 disadvantaged women qualified for a housing programme. The 10 billion VND housing programme has helped alleviate the plight of disadvantaged women, including Agent Orange victims, in the city with homes as large as 67 sq. m. each, said the municipal Association in Support of Poor and Disadvantaged Women and Children.

The Ministry of Education and Training has given guidance to the Departments of Education and Training to launch a movement entitled 'Friendly school, active students' in the 2008 – 2013 period.
The movement aims to develop clean and green schools and encourage students to become more active, hard, self-confident and creative in study through a creative and effective curriculum developed by the teachers.
In addition, entertainment and sport activities also will be practically organised at schools.

The Japan Special Fund, through the Asian Development Bank  (ADB), will provide US$1 million in technical assistance to finance a feasibility study that will pave the way for an ADB loan in 2009 to build two model research universities - with a focus on science and technology - in the cities of Ha Noi and Da Nang, according to ADB.
The Government of Vietnam will provide an additional US$200,000.
The project will help design a policy and regulatory framework for future  research universities, in line with the Government’s aim of making higher education more innovative, internationally competitive, and relevant to labor market needs.

The People's Committee of the central province of Quang Tri has ratified a project, in which 1,800 classrooms and 1,100 public service rooms for school officials and teachers will be built. It has a total investment capital of VND 522 billion including over VND 313
billion from the source of Government bonds and over VND 208 billion from local budget and other sources. For the immediate, 431 classrooms and 279 public service rooms will be built this year.

Vo Thi Minh Hien of Quang Ngai Province had endured pain from a sciatic nerve for many months but thanks to an acupuncture clinic funded by an overseas Swiss-Vietnamese professor, she is far more comfortable these days. Tu Kien Le donated VND100 million (US$6,000) in 1994 to help poor patients in his hometown in the province, and since that time, has sent $600 every month to keep it operating. The clinic’s manager, Dr Lu Thi Hong Hoa, says patients are offered free treatment and medicine. The Quang Ngai Red Cross also helps manage the clinic, which is located in the organisation’s building. The Red Cross deputy head Huynh Dung says 80 to 90 patients are seen ever day.

The General Department of Population and Family Planning (GDPFP), which comes under the Ministry of Health, launched an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign on Tuesday to encourage more responsible behaviour among sexually active teenagers in Viet Nam.
The campaign comes under the framework of the US$20-million HIV/AIDS Prevention Among Youth campaign funded by the Asian Development Bank and implemented by the GDPFP over the period 2007-2011.

The Ministry of Health will carry out stricter measures to implement the ban on gender selection of unborn babies, according to a document released earlier this month. The document was issued in order to deal with the gender imbalance in babies, said the Ministry. The male population has risen disproportionately in recent years, with 16 provinces reporting 115-128 males per 100 females, an alarming increase from 2005 levels of 105 boys per 100 girls. The Ministry of Health said it had asked health departments across the country to cooperate with the General Statistics Office to keep a close eye on the gender imbalance. The document also ordered health clinics and hospitals to enforce a ban on using Ultrasound to determine the sex of an unborn child.

With 0.47 percent of the population suffering from blindness, Vietnam has one of the highest rates of blindness of any Southeast Asian country, according to a national conference held in Hanoi.
Around 500,000 people are blind in both eyes and more than one million are blind in one eye, the National Institute of Ophthalmology (NIO) Director Do Nhu Hon said.

Health officials and employees of public health establishments will not be allowed to work for private health organizations.
According to a new rule regarding the conduct of officials and employees at public health establishments, signed by Minister of Health Nguyen Quoc Trieu, health officials and employees are not allowed to engage in establishing or managing private businesses, private schools or private scientific research organizations in the health sector.
They are also not permitted to act as consultants for businesses and individuals’ organizations in case their consulting may harm their workplaces, the health sector or the nation.