A delegation from Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam visited Mexico on Aug 2 to 12 to share experiences in poverty reduction, especially in urban areas, state media reported. The trip is under the framework of a project on supporting multidimensional poverty reduction in urban settings in HCM City funded by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). During their ten-day stay, the delegation held working sessions with representatives from Mexico’s National Council for the Evaluation of Social Policy (CONEVAL) and the Mexican Ministry of Social Development (SEDESOL), the Vietnamese delegation. At the meetings, the two sides discussed ways to identify and measure multi-dimensional poverty. According to SEDESOL Deputy Minister Juan Carlos Lastiri Quiros, the multidimensional poverty methodology that Mexico is applying covers education, health care, social welfare, housing, basic services and food, in addition to the level of social cohesion. He added that over 46% of Mexico’s population are deemed poor by the new methodology, which is regarded as one of his country’s leading priorities during the 2012-2018 period. The delegation leader and Vice Chairman of the HCM City municipal People’s Committee Hua Ngoc Thuan presented Vietnam’s achievements in poverty reduction. He outlined the country’s anti-poverty policies and guidelines, including the National Target Program on Sustainable Poverty Reduction. Currently, Vietnam uses an income-only basis to measure poverty, which poses shortcomings in poverty reduction policies as many aspects concerning the demand of the needy people are not considered.
At a recent Q&A session of the National Assembly, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) highlighted the necessity to adjust the poverty line to make it suitable to the real situation. So far, up to 2.1 million households in the Southeast Asian country are deemed poor and 1.4 million near-poor, accounting for 9.46% and 6.75% of the national population, according to the ministry. (Vietnamplus.vn Aug 11)
