As published in Thanh Nien News on 11 November, 2011

UN urges Vietnam to prioritize improving healthcare, education services

Two students (R) pass waiting relatives as they exit the gate of a high school after taking part in a college admission test in Hanoi on July 5. The United Nations has urged Vietnam to improve social services like education and health to ensure a better life of local people.

Vietnam’s economic development over the last decade has not been matched by social development, and its human development index is below average, a UN official says.

“This year’s global Human Development Report shows that Vietnam’s human development index (HDI) value for 2011 is very similar to last year. The country is in the medium human development category and ranks 128th out of 187 countries surveyed,” said Setsuko Yamazaki, the United Nations Development Program country director in Vietnam at the launch of the 2011 Vietnam Human Development Report on Wednesday (November 9).

UN’s HDI measures three basic dimensions of human development – a long and healthy life, access to education and knowledge, and a decent standard of living.

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As published in AFP on 6 October, 2011

Almost all the victims of severe flooding in Vietnam's Mekong Delta were children, the United Nations said on Monday, as the official death toll climbed to 78.

The UN said 65 children under the age of 16 were among those killed by widespread flooding that has inundated much of south and central Vietnam.

"The Mekong floods have caused an alarming number of child fatalities, most of them due to drowning," it said in a statement, announcing it was stepping up its response to the disaster.

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As published in AFP on 6 October, 2011

HANOI — Increased access to technology that allows parents to know the sex of their foetus has left Asia short of 117 million women, mostly in China and India, the UN said on Thursday.

The trend is expected to influence the affected countries for more than 50 years, particularly through a shortage of brides for Chinese and Indian men, according to experts at a conference organised by the UN and Vietnam in Hanoi.

"This skewed population sex ratio reflects a preference for sons, in combination with increasing access to new sex-selection technology" such as ultrasound, the UN Population Fund said in a conference paper.

Sex determination leads many parents to resort to "selective abortions", said French demographer Christophe Guilmoto.

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As published in Viet Nam News on 23 September, 2011

HA NOI — More efforts need to be made in ensuring gender equality across the justice sector to better protect women's rights, experts suggested at yesterday's fourth legal policy dialogue between Viet Nam and the United Nations Development Programme.

The forum gathers the international community and their Vietnamese counterparts on a quarterly basis to discuss key challenges facing the justice sector.

"Women are often poorly represented in important decision-making positions that are central to translating laws and policies into practice," UN Resident Coordinator Eamonn Murphy said in his opening remarks, citing figures revealing that less than a third of all judges in Viet Nam and only four of the 63 provincial court presidents are women.

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