Latest Foreign Assistance Briefs

- Authorities in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh put in use a primary school and a clinic funded by the U.S. government and people on Oct 18, state media reported. This is the two first facilities that the U.S. government and citizens have helped built in Tra Vinh so far. The two facilities were built at a total cost of over VND14 billion ($666,000) in Duyen Hai district. The works aim to provide local children with better education and healthcare services and reflect the friendship between the Vietnamese and U.S. people. The U.S. has pledged to support Vietnam in improving its education and medical services by financing the two facilities. (cpv.org.vn Oct 19)

- A new SOS children’s village, the 14 th of its kind in Vietnam, opened in Quy Nhon City, in the central province of Binh Dinh on October 16. The 52.5 billion VND village, which was jointly funded by the German company Vorwerk and the provincial People’s Committee, will eventually house 14 families to take care of the 140 orphans and homeless children. There will also be nursery facilities for the very young children. The village is currently home to 85 children in the custody of 10 families, as well as 190 toddlers from outside the village who are attending six pre-school classes, which will make it easier for the village’s children to integrate back into society. Construction of another SOS children’s village is underway in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai and the northern province of Thai Binh is also looking for investment to fund a similar project. (Vietnamplus.vn Oct 17)

- Hanoi-based Bach Mai Hospital today receives medical equipment worth more than $1 million presented through a project sponsored by many U.S. organizations, including St. Anthony Health Foundation. The donated goods, which weigh nearly 43 tons, have been brought to the hospital in a Boeing 747-400 chartered by US professor Carl Edwin Bartecchi, a Distinguished Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Through calls by the professor, who is also the director of the US-based Bach Mai Hospital Project, and his colleagues at the St. Anthony Health Foundation, many donors have donated various medical devices, including sickbeds, ultrasonic machines, and respirators, to Bach Mai, one of the leading general hospitals in Vietnam. These equipment have been transported at a cost of $350,000, which was paid by the professor, his colleagues and other benefactors. The project has been launched since 1997 and is funded by St. Anthony Health Foundation, Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI), Centura Health, and numerous private donors and medical equipment companies. (Tuoi Tre – Youth Oct 17)Latest Foreign Assistance Briefs