Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung has assigned the Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development and Planning and Investment to devise a national safe water and environment hygiene programme for the 2011-15 period.

The 2006-2010 national safe water and environment hygiene programme has basically achieved set targets with more than 52 million people getting access to safe water by the end of 2010, 13.2 million people more than the figure of late 2005.

In addition, almost 32,000 schools and kindergartens have access to safe water and sanitation systems representing an annual rise of 2 percent to 84 percent by 2010.

Safe water and sanitation systems are now available at all schools and medical clinics in the Mekong delta provinces of An Giang, Vinh Long, and Long An and southernmost Ca Mau province./.