East Meets West helps women coping with COVID-19 pandemic and saline intrusion

	International rice prices hit 6-year high as Thailand and Vietnam face drought and Covid-19
	UNDP supports USD185,000 to help the Mekong Delta cope with drought and saline intrusion
	Salinity, droughts to come earlier in Mekong Delta

At the lauching ceremony on April 14. Source: hoilhpn.org.vn

In rural communities, access to safe, clean water is always lacking. Rural people, like all people, need handwashings to protect themselves from the virus. But without clean water, many can’t.

Restrictions on trade and movement due to COVID-19 are already making it difficult for small-scale farmers to access markets, both to obtain essential inputs such as seeds and to sell final products. In addition, the availability of non-farm work that many rural households rely on to diversify their incomes is likely to shrink.

It will be the most marginal and poor groups who suffer the most – among them, rural women and young people. School closures and the need to care for sick family members will increase the workloads of many women. Many women will also suffer as unemployment rises, as their current work is more likely to be under informal and precarious working conditions.

The project aims to empower women in 173 communes in 5 provinces of Hoa Binh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Ben Tre in disease prevention efforts in the selected provinces, and will include providing poor households with access to safe drinking water, Labobo/Happy Tap hand washing devices and hygiene education.

With the above activities, the program will actively contribute to the prevention of disease; helping poor women, children and disadvantaged communities to overcome difficult times while coping with the COVID-19 epidemic and saline intrusion at the same time.

A Labobo/Happy Tap hand washing device. Source: hoilhpn.org.vn

More specifically, the program will provide 2,018 Labobo/Happy Tap hand washing devices with soap for 173 commune health stations and 173 kindergartens and 980 poor households in 5 above-mentioned provinces; supporting the 5 provincial Women's Union and the health sector to develop communication materials on COVID-19 and hygiene practices; supplying water tanks to 200 poor households and funding the installation of saline water filtration kiosks which expected to supply clean water for daily needs of over 3,600 households in Ben Tre in order to minimize negative impacts for health and hygiene due to drought and saline intrusion./.

IOM assists immigration officers' response to COVID-19 The International Organization for Migration, (IOM) Mission in Vietnam on April 13 delivered urgently needed Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) to support the frontline immigration officers ...

More free ‘rice ATMs’ set up in Hue, Da Nang For these people who are suddenly without income, businessmen and donors in the central city of Hue have set up 'rice ATMs' that dispense free rice in ...

East Meets West builds climate-resilient houses for poor communes The Compassion Homes Program of East Meets West/Thrive Networks is a cost-effective approach to assist vulnerable families to prepare for the effects of climate change ...