Can Tho city has encouraged farmers to switch to high-value crops on low-yield rice fields, enabling many poor households to escape poverty. (Photo: VNA) The money, to come from the central and local governments, soft loans and othersources, will be used to provide poor households with all basic social servicesand improve their incomes.
They will include support policies and programmes related to healthcare,education, vocational training, soft loans, and job and poverty reductionmodels to help poor and near-poor people.
Loans worth 640 billion VND (27.8 million USD) will be provided to 12,974 poorand near – poor households and those that have newly escaped poverty to dobusiness.
The city will provide free health insurance cards to 3,090 poor and ethnicpeople living in disadvantaged areas, and 34,729 near-poor people, ensuringthat this demographic is covered 100 percent.
It will provide scholarships or reduce or waive school fees for 1,870 poorstudents, and vocational training and jobs for 750 poor and near-poor people.
It will expand 48 successful poverty reduction models, and carry outagriculture extension programmes to benefit 150 poor and near-poor households.
The city has implemented various policies and programmes in recent years toenable poor households to escape poverty sustainably.
Last year it built 485 houses, gifted 43,556 health insurance cards to poor andnear – poor households and provided soft loans worth a total of 648 billion VND(28.1 million USD) to poor and near - poor households.
More than 44,900 poor and near-poor households received 33.7 billion VND (1.5million USD) worth of Government subsidies to overcome the impacts of theCOVID- 19 pandemic.
The city reduced its poverty rate by 0.37 percentage points and had only 1,036poor households last year, or 0.29 percent, according to its Department ofLabour, Invalids and Social Affairs.
The city aims to ensure the rate does not slip this year since the poorhouseholds are not able to escape poverty as they have members benefiting fromthe Government’s social policies or with chronic diseases or have onlyseniors./.
VNA
