Living standards of ethnic minority groups in the Central Highlands region is being improved gradually thanks to assistance from businesses and the authorities. VinGroup, one of the leading firms in Vietnam , donated 5,000 breeding cows to poor households, while a number of businesses, such as the Vietnam-Russia Oil and Gas Joint Venture, the Vietnam Military Telecommunications Group, Vietcombank, and Vietinbank, invested in building schools and medical centers and providing schooling aids and medical tools worth billions of Vietnamese dong for the region. In 2014, the Vietnam Red Cross and its chapters in the region carried out a series of humanitarian activities with a sum of VND83 billion to aid more than 475,700 needy people. Apart from calling for more support to the region, the Central Highlands Steering Committee visited and presented gifts worth VND8 billion to needy people in the region and 29 nearby mountainous districts. In 2015, the committee will continue mobilizing donation to social security programs in the region. VinGroup plans to assist the building 1,000 houses in the Central Highlands and nearby mountainous districts. Covering over 54,400 sq.km, the Central Highlands groups the five provinces of Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Lam Dong, Gia Lai and Kon Tum, with a population of over 5.4 million people, 25.7% of them ethnic minorities. (vietnamplus.vn Dec 19)
