Scene at the conference (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Ensuring comprehensive development for children inearly years at home and in the community is the goal of a national programmeintroduced at a consultative workshop in Hanoi on September 8.
The programme aims to ensure children’s equal access to fundamental physicaland mental health services, nutrition, education, clean water, environmentalhygiene and social welfare policies.
“Early childhood development plays an important role and lays the foundationfor physical, intellectual, emotional and aesthetic development of children,”Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Doan Mau Diep said.
He reiterated the Vietnamese Government’s commitments to implementing ratified internationalconventions and sparing no efforts to fully ensure child rights.
“The Government of Vietnam has made the right decision to commit to develop anationwide policy for Early Childhood Development bringing together differentline agencies that play a critical role in the life of a child,” said UNICEFRepresentative in Vietnam Youssouf Abdel-Jelil.
The National Programme on Care for Comprehensive Development of Children inEarly Years at Home and in the Community for the period of 2017-2025 is carriedout in two phrases from 2018 to 2020 and from 2021 to 2025 concentrating onlocalities with economic difficulties.
In Vietnam, close to 25 percent of children under five years of age suffer fromstunting. Approximately 77 percent of preschool age children (aged 3-5) and 13percent of kindergarten children (aged under 3) do not attend any formalpre-learning programme.
Every year, about 2,000 children experience violence and abuse and 170,000children are without parental care.
The building of thenational early childhood development programme aims to realise the Child Law2016 to contribute to the implementation of sustainable development goal inVietnam.-VNA
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