The Vietnamese Government has mapped out a new poverty reduction plan, which will no longer focus on just providing the poor with money.
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| Rural migrants are often neglected |
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| The north-west is the poorest region of the country |
The Government, in the newly issued Decision No. 80/NQ- CP on poverty reduction for the period of 2011-2020, will pay more attention to multi-dimensional poverty reduction based on practical and sustainable support policies.
“Previously, poverty was purely judged based on income, from now on, we’ll have a more multi-dimensional approach to the matter,” said Ha Hung, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly’s Committee of Ethnology.
According to Hung, the first priority will be given to poor ethnic minority people and those living in mountainous areas.
The Government intends to introduce a 3.5-fold increase per capital income among the poor and reduce the national poverty rate by 2% per annum over the next decade.
To do this, policies to support the poor in work, vocational training, employment, education, healthcare, nutrition, housing and legal aid will be continued.
In the meanwhile, a national target programme on poverty reduction for the period will be drafted.
A UNICEF official said that more attention should be paid to the migration of people to major cities, which had contributed to a rising poverty rate in urban areas.
Adjusts would be made to national poverty standards in the years to come to take into account recent price rises.
North-west poorest region
According to last year’s general survey of poor households, the majority of the country’s poor are located in the north-west region, said the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.
The survey also indicated that Dien Bien Province, in the north-west, topped the index, with a household poverty rate of 50% last year. It was followed by Lai Chau, Lao Cai and Ha Giang Provinces with over 40%.
