(VNF) - The National Fund for Vietnamese Children (NFVC) has raised over VND 5.5 trillion (USD 241.8 million) over the past 25 years and thousands of tonnes of gifts for some 30 million disadvantaged children, contributing to achieving millennium development goals and sustainable development goals set by the United Nations.

The information was announced at a meeting held in Hanoi on May 4^th to mark the 25^th anniversary of the NFVC in the presence of Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh; Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung and Head of the PCC’s Commission for Mass Mobilisation Truong Thi Mai.

Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh who is also Chairman of the NFVC said that the fund has developed rapidly over the past years with many meaningful programmes and various activities in support of disadvantaged children.

Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh presents scholarships to disadvantaged children in Vi Xuyen district, Ha Giang province in November 2016 as part of the activities of the NFVC. (Photo: Molisa)

She highlighted some prominent programmes that attracted much attention from the community including a project to help disadvantaged children to continue going to school, a programme to provide free milk for school children, a project to build schools in remote regions, and a project providing wheelchairs and free eye and heart surgery for children, among others.

"It can be affirmed that the 25-year journey of the fund has been a journey of love, compassion and giving to Vietnamese children, particularly disadvantaged children", the Vice President said.

"It is also the journey of cultivating the tradition of ‘The good leaves protect the worn-out leaves’ and ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ and other humane values of Vietnamese people"

The Vice President added that the country still has nearly 1.5 million children in disadvantaged circumstances and 2.5 million children are at risk of falling into disadvantaged circumstances.

In addition, there remains a high rate of child abuse, trafficking, abandonment, delinquency, autistism, child labour, school dropouts, malnutrition, and other problems facing children which are challenges for the NFVC to put forth more practical and effective activities.

The NFVC aims to raise about VND 80 billion (USD 3.52 million) and support 55,000 underprivileged children annually by 2020, NFVC Director Hoang Van Tien said, adding that it will prioritise activities that provide long-term care.

In addition, the fund will pay more attention to postoperative care for children and eye care projects at schools while building boarding schools for children in remote areas.

It has been working with a group of experts on a project to provide comprehensive care for children from the Dan Lai ethnic minority group.

At the ceremony, Politburo member, Secretary of the Party Central Committee (PCC) and Head of the PCC’s Commission for Mass Mobilisation Truong Thi Mai and Minister Dao Ngoc Dung granted certificates of merit from the Prime Minister to inpiduals and collectives who made significant contributions to the NFVC.

Head of the PCC’s Commission for Mass Mobilisation, Ms. Truong Thi Mai granted certificates of merit from the Prime Minister to inpiduals and collectives who made significant contributions to the NFVC. (Photo: tuoitre.vn)

The NFVC was established by the government on May 4^th, 1992 to gather donations from organisations and inpiduals to help the country achieve its goals in childcare and protect children’s rights in accordance with the 1990 U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.

It has funded heart surgeries, worth approximately VND 80 billion (USD 3.52 million), for nearly 2,000 children in its 15-year programme “For children’s heart”. The fund launched its operation smile programme in 1994, since then it has supported surgeries for about 30,000 children with cleft palate at a cost of VND 70 billion (VND 3.08 million).

Inpiduals and organisations have donated to these charitable surgeries through NFVC, including Operation Smile, Australia’s Vietnam Outreach, U.S.-based ESSO and the Ministry of Finance.

Since 2000, the fund has also offered long-term assistance to about 1,000 orphans or children whose parents suffer disabilities or are unable to work to help them continue their education.

It has worked with a partner from the Republic of Korea to provide support to children with autism from poor families since 2014./.

Compiled by VNF