Law reform boosts social progress
Ha Noi, Jan. 26 (VNA) -- Cutting its poverty rate by more than half during the past 15 years can be attributed to Viet Nam's reform of social policy, says Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs Minister Nguyen Thi Hang.
Hang says that in addition to increased spending for social development - 25 percent of last year's budget - the Government has devised policies that encourage individuals to make money in complience with the law, while encouraging all society and the international community to become involved in dealing with social problems.
A range of newly-promulgated legal documents and changes to existing laws - the Labour Code, the Child Care and Protection Law, the Education Law and the Decree for the Disabled - had adjusted the legal system to the new situation and had served as a lever to social development.
Several social-development programmes - poverty alleviation, job generation in communities with special difficulties, the supply of safe water, environmental protection, expanded immunization for children, illiteracy eradication and combating social vices - have also been implemented.
As a result, the national poverty rate was reduced from 30 percent in 1992 to about 11 percent last year; that means about 300,000 families lifting themselves above the poverty line each year.
Reducing unemployment is difficult for the Government because the national workforce grew to 40.6 million in 2000 from 30.9 million in 1991, a yearly increase of 2.9 percent.
However, the country managed to generate 1.2 million jobs each year for the last ten years.
Population growth dropped by about five per 1,000 every year, helping partially ordinary people to wider social-services access.
Major achievements included the universalisation of primary education and providing access to health care services for more than 90 percent of the population and safe water for 60 percent of households.
The Government has emphasised development of agriculture and different crafts, especially export-oriented industries and services in rural areas, so as to generate employment for the rural population which has the highest unemployment and underemployment rates.
The Government has also set out to win overseas labour contracts for 50,000 workers this year.
"Labour exportation is very helpful for national human resource development, the transfer of technology and increasing hard currency remittances," says Hang.
Long-term, the country is working to achieve universalisation of junior secondary education, increase the average lifespan to 72 and reduce malnourishment among children under five to less than 25 percent by 2010.
The rate is now more than 30 percent.--VNA
