UNDP defines three major challenges to reduce poverty in Vietnam
13/10/2008 17:13
Vietnam, who has made remarkable achievement in poverty reduction over the
past decades, is facing three challenges to make further progress, the UNDP
reported in Hanoi today.
The report, from United Nations Development
Programme in Vietnam, is presented to a Roundtable Meeting held by Vietnamese
Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs today, ahead of the
International Day for the Poverty Eradication which falls on October 17 every
year.
"Firstly, extreme poverty remains heavily concentrated geographically
and among ethnic minority groups in Vietnam," according to the report. Secondly,
widening economic and social disparities have started to hurt ordinary
Vietnamese.
Thirdly, the report held that "millions of Vietnamese subsist on
incomes that are only marginally above the poverty line, and these individuals
and households are vulnerable to economic shocks caused by external or domestic
factors."
To address these challenges, the report suggests the Vietnamese
government to take effective control of inflation, which hits low- income
households hardest.
It also suggests to improve the social assistance in
Vietnam by making it available to those poor migrants living in urban areas
without residence registrations.
In the medium and long term, the report
suggests the Vietnamese government to try to sustain pro-poor and high economic
growth, and pursue the development of a comprehensive social security system
that ensures a equitable and progressive provision of social
assistance.
Xinhua
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