Disabled women, children in Thanh Hoa assisted by Germany

Thanh Hoa (VNA) – As many as 2,550 people with disabilities, including women and homeless children, in the central province of Thanh Hoa have benefited from a 2014-2015 project funded by Germany’s Terre Des Hommes organisation.

The project has provided legal assistance, vocational training and job opportunities for them, facilitating the enforcement of their legitimate rights to health care, social welfare, education and access to membership of associations for people with disabilities.

The provincial Sponsor Association for Disabled and Orphaned Children has launched pilot training courses for 1,300 people with special needs, 65 percent of whom are women. It has also offered jobs to 1,600 and employment advices to 5,840.

The association also deployed livelihood models worth 1.6 billion VND (72,000 USD) in 12 communes, six of them adopting the breeding model, four embracing the handicraft model and two applying the general livelihood model, which has lifted 60 percent of those with disabilities out of poverty.

A programme to offer 30 cows, each worth 15 million VND (68 USD), to poor households with people with disabilities, was also carried out in the districts of Yen Dinh, Nhu Xuan, Tho Xuan, Nga Son and Hoang Hoa, as well as Thanh Hoa city.

The association has raised 135 billion VND (6.13 million USD), including more than 27 billion VND (1.22 million USD) in cash from 2012-2015.

It granted wheelchairs to 4,700 while providing orthopedic surgery and rehabilitation services to 982, and artificial limbs to 570.

Thanh Hoa is currently home to 217,000 people living with disabilities and more than 21,000 orphaned children.-VNA