Deputy PM Vu Van Ninh has called for specific policies to support sustainable poverty reduction with order of priority from poor to near-poor households. The Deputy PM made the remark in Hanoi on Apr 9 while presiding over a meeting of the Central Steering Committee for Sustainable Poverty Reduction. In 2011-2012 period, around VND24 trillion sourced from the State budget was given to 29 million people for healthcare insurance. The beneficiaries included the poor, ethnic minority groups, under six-year-old children, near-poor families, pupils and students. Each year, the Government exempts or reduces tuitions worth over VND4 trillion to support the poor and ethnic minority students and pupils. Over the past two year, around 150,000 poor laborers received to free-of-charge vocational training and 8,500 laborers in poor districts got vocational training support or have been sent to work abroad. Moreover, some 1 million poor households accessed to preferential credit for production. Statistics show that the poverty rate fell from 14% in 2010 down to 11.76% in 2011 and 9.6% in 2012. This year, the figure is expected to dip to 7.6%. The goal of poverty reduction has been initially fulfilled over the last two years. However, the achievements are limited especially in difficult regions. Investment in poverty reduction was still low in comparison with the reality. The assistance policies for near-poor families and households which have just escaped from poverty were also issued and amended slowly. Some localities have yet paid due attention to assist poor households to get out of poverty. The Government said it will continue to further allocate resources to conduct the policies on social welfare and poverty reduction. Accordingly, difficult regions will be given more resources, Deputy PM Ninh affirmed. (news.gov.vn April 9)
