Poverty Reduction in Vietnam Biggest City Remains Much to Say

The city’s poverty rate at the end of last year was 0.5% based on a per capita income of VND16 million ($711). From just income, the method of calculating poverty has been modified this year to a multi-dimensional approach based also on education, healthcare, employment, social insurance, living conditions, and information access. According to UNICEF, HCM City is Vietnam’s richest, fastest growing and most densely populated city with 10 million people, but its wealth hides the magnitude of poverty and disparities and typical challenges that affect the urban poor, including children. The nutrition program in District 8 aims to improve living conditions for vulnerable children and families and is carried out by French NGO Enfants & Developpement (E & D) since 2010. Hers is one of 1,000 families to benefit as of last year. Tran Hoang Minh of E&D said District 8 is home to many poor families including immigrants who are “poor in not only finance but also other fields including education, employment, and personal papers.” They lack information and skills to access social services, he said. The organization’s social workers visited these families two or four times a month so as to help them solve their problems step by step, he added. E&D’s staff have also held workshops for these families on preventing malnourishment, managing expenditure and others besides working with local authorities to effectively provide assistance to them. (Vietnam News Agency July 14)