The government leader made the call at a ceremony to launch the campaign in Hanoi and HCM City on October 15 held by the Vietnam Fatherland Front.
Speaking at the event, Vietnam Fatherland Front Chairman Tran Thanh Man said that Vietnam often faced natural disasters which left many people who escaped from the poverty poor again, so they really needed assistance.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the ceremony
According to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, despite the state budget difficulties, Vietnam had always paid attention to poverty reduction.
Since 1992, Vietnam has spent tens of thousands of billions of VND on poverty reduction programmes annually. The programmes have also received the support from many individuals and organisations inside and outside the country.
In the 2011-2015 period, following the Vietnam Fatherland Front’s call, individuals, organisations and enterprises donated over VND5 trillion (USD227.2 million) for the poor.
The rate of poor households is expected to reduce to around 7% this year from 9.9% in 2015.
However, currently, the country has still more than 1.9 million poor households and 1.3 million households which live near the poverty line.
The prime minister called on people to text VNN to the number 1408 to make a donation of VND20,000 (around 80 US Cents).