Vietnam is recognised by the international community as one of pioneers in implementing Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). According to the Vietnam’s Millennium Development Goals 2010 National Report released in Hanoi on September 17, Vietnam has achieved five out of eight MDGs ahead of schedule and can basically complete all goals by 2015.
At a press briefing on Vietnam’s MDGs in Hanoi the same day, an official from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said among all MDGs, Vietnam has made the most impressive progress in poverty reduction, reducing the poverty rate from 58.1 percent in 1990 to 14.5 percent in 2008. The number of hungry households in the country dropped by two thirds from 24.9 percent in 1993 to 6.9 percent in 2008.
However, according to the UNDP, although the overall poverty rate has decreased significantly, the gap is still very big. For example, more than a half of ethnic minority groups are still living below the poverty line and new forms of poverty have appeared, including long-year poverty, urban poverty, poor children and poor immigrants. To address these poverty forms, according to UNDP, Vietnam needs to have multidimensional, individual approaches where poverty means more than family incomes, that is, poverty is calculated by money.
Under the report, Vietnam has made remarkable progress in education, achieving near universal primary education. In 2009, 97 percent of told children went to primary schools and 88.5 percent of them finished five years of primary education. In this group, 90 percent continued to study at higher levels of education and there is no major gap between urban and rural areas. Gender ratio is relatively equal, with nearly a half being female at primary and secondary levels.
According to UNDP, Vietnam needs to make sure that the achieved goals are sustained. In the next five years, it should pay attention to several aspects, particularly the education quality and cost.
Currently, the quality of education remains unequal and relatively poor in Vietnam given that teachers are not well trained and curriculum are not appropriate. To let all children, both boys and girls, be entitled to exercise the right to pursue quality education, Vietnam needs to have diverse, consistent and flexible opportunities to meet the needs of all students. All children must be placed at the centre of the education sector. As Vietnam is on the road to become a middle income nation, the education system needs to offer a type of education that not only teaches children the knowledge and basic skills but also equips them with preparatory skills to step into a changing world.
The report said that Vietnam has also made significant strides towards achieving gender equality (MDG3). Vietnam is closing the gender gap at a faster rate than almost any other country in Southeast Asia. Access to education was similar for both boys and girls. Schoolgirls at primary schools account for 48.2 percent, 48.1 percent at secondary schools and 49.1 percent at high schools. Women actively participate in socioeconomic activities. In 2010, 83 percent of women are estimated to join in socioeconomic activities, compared with 85 percent of men. Currently, Vietnam ranks first among ASEAN member countries in terms of female representation in the National Assembly, with 25.8 percent of female deputies.
Vietnam has made great efforts to realise the goal of reducing two-thirds of under-five child mortality (MDG4) from 1990 to 2015. Infant and under-five child mortality rates declined more than a half from 1990 to 2006. The infant mortality rate fell from 44.4 per mil of births in 1990 to 16 per mil 2009. The under-five mortality rate dropped significantly, from 58 per mil in 1990 to 24.4 per mil in 2009. Moreover, the rate of under-five underweight sank 25.2 percent in 2005 to 18.9 percent in 2009.
UNDP recommended that, to promote these achievements and ensure child mortality rate to fall more, several aspects needed to be taken into consideration, specially mortality of children aged below one month and undersized children. In spite of many progresses achieved, most deaths happen to children aged below one year, accounting for nearly 60 percent, while under-five mortality rate accounts for 40 percent. Man deaths would have not happened if medical staffs had been trained well of pregnant care, delivery assistance and postnatal care. Notably, kids die in the first month of age because mothers live in far-lying mountainous areas where primary medical care is very difficultly accessible. Thus, more investments for infrastructure system and human resource development are very important, particularly in northern mountainous and central highland regions.
With the implementation of MDG5 - enhancing maternal health, to date, the maternal mortality rate has decreased steadily in the past two decades, from 233/100,000 live births in 1990 to 80/100,000 live births in 2005 and 69/100,000 live births in 2009.
Vietnam has made long strides in improving reproductive health access for all people, including health care for mothers and infants babies, and family planning, and intensifying the use of modern contraceptive measures, built programmes, policies and laws on reproductive health and rights as well as quality services for the poor and other vulnerable groups.
Besides, to prevent HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases (MDG6), according to the UNDP, Vietnam has made significant progress in establishing legal frameworks and policies in recent years. The country has a good strategy and nine response plans to cope with HIV. The disease is found in all age groups in 2010, estimated at 0.28 percent.
Impressive progresses in malaria prevention reflect Vietnam’s attainment of MDG in this aspect. Vietnam has also been recognised to control other epidemics like SARS, H5N1 and H1N1 very well.
The UNDP said Vietnam is committed to solving environmental problems at the international level and has gained remarkable achievements in the implementation of MDG7. For example, the forest coverage increased from 27.8 percent in 1990 to around 40 percent in 2010. Today, about 83 percent of rural population is accessible to clean water, compared with 30 percent in 1990.
Mai Ngoc
Vietnamese
