Vietnam strives for better social security
In 2013 Vietnam consistently pursued policies
for social beneficiaries, poverty reduction and job generation,
contributing to ensuring social stability.
In regard to social
welfare, authorities at all levels and in all sectors continued to pay
special attention to the elderly, the disabled and people in remote and
mountainous areas.
Remarkable achievements
According to
the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, in 2013, Vietnam
managed to maintain a poverty reduction rate of between 1.7 percent and 2
percent - 4 percent in the poorest districts. More than 1.5 million
jobs were created. Localities and enterprises sent nearly 90,000 workers
overseas, 10 percent more than in previous years. The promotion of
social security policies and the increase of the minimum wage in the
beginning of the year contributed to improving people’s living
conditions.
Several achievements were recorded in labour safety
and hygiene, social welfare, social insurance policies, unemployment
insurance, vocational training, child care and child protection. By the
end of last year, the number of people with social and health care
insurance totalled 60 million, 4.6 percent more than the previous year.
Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen
Trong Dam noted: “These achievements were thanks to the National Target
Programme which integrated the national poverty reduction programme 135,
and the poverty reduction programmes for 61 poorest districts and
disadvantaged communes in coastal and island areas. This integration
facilitated the government’s management of social programmes. We also
put in place several policies for near-poor and newly-escaped from
poverty households to ensure sustainable poverty reduction.”
Major challenges
Despite the remarkable achievements in social security, major
challenges remain due to a big gap between the rich and the poor. The
poverty rate in remote and ethnic minority areas remains high, and
shortcomings are still reported in the health care and education
sectors.
Deputy Minister Dam said: “The poverty reduction is not
sustainable because of the large number of households close to the
poverty line. Tens of thousands of households escape poverty each year
but many of them fall back into poverty due to natural disasters. It is
very difficult to raise donations for poverty reduction from
international sources because many foreign donors have shifted their
priority to other countries”.
Based on 2013’s achievements, in
2014, Vietnam continues to pay attention to designing social policies
for target groups and localities and promoting public participation.-VNA