Latest Foreign Assistance Briefs

- More than 120 Vietnamese children with genital deformities will receive free treatment under a scheme run by the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation. The operations will be performed during a two-week visit by Dr Robert De Castro, a leading Italian expert. Out of the children, 80 will be given initial examinations, 17 others who received treatment last year will be re-examined, and 26 others will be given surgery. The operations will be conducted by De Castro and Vietnamese American doctor Tue Dinh with the support of the National Hospital of Pediatrics and its staff. (Vietnamplus.vn June 14)

- The Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) has funded EUR385,951 to help Vietnam use for disseminating domestic violence prevention in 2012, the Ha Noi Moi newspaper reported.  With the amount, the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will build national program on anti-domestic violence in the 2012-2015 period, support the Joint Campaign for Prevention of Domestic Violence (JCC), and boost dissemination of Law on Domestic Violence Prevention on media. Domestic violence remains a threat preventing Vietnamese women from doing business or promotion prospects, local experts said.

- 160 elderly people in northern My Loc district of Nam Dinh province have had their sight restored thanks to crystalline lens replacements. The free eye operations were organized by Nam Dinh’s province’s Department of Health in conjunction with the World Health Organization (WHO), the Central Eye Hospital and My Loc district’s General Hospital. The Director of the provincial Department of Health Dang Thi Minh, said that the free eye surgery and lens replacements are provided annually as part of the WHO’s efforts to support the northern province. The cost of an ordinary operation is approximately VND4-VND5 million, however the WHO has funded the program including after care for patients who have had surgery. Over the last two years, the WHO’s program on crystalline lens surgery has brought sight back to more than 1,200 elderly people in four districts of Nam Dinh including My Loc, Vu Ban, Y Yen, and Hai Hau. (Vietnamplus.vn June 13)