(VNF) - Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has approved a UNICEF-funded project on childcare development and renovating the healthcare system in Vietnam.

Illustrative image. (Source: VNA)

The project hopes to strengthen the medical system’s capacity of maternal and child care aiming to expand coverage and improving the quality of integrated early childhood development, including healthcare services, nutrition and hygiene, especially among vulnerable children.

It will run from 2017-2021 in Hanoi and the provinces of Gia Lai, Kon Tum and Dien Bien, costing more than USD 5.1 million in non-refundable aid, with more than VND 16 billion (USD 761,000) and items worth in excess of VND 8 billion sourced from the Vietnamese government.

The PM asked the Health Ministry to review and carry out the project.

Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Doan Mau Diep reiterated the Vietnamese Government’s commitments to implementing ratified international conventions and sparing no efforts to fully ensure child rights at a consultative workshop in Hanoi on September 8^th.

“The Government of Vietnam has made the right decision to commit to develop a nationwide policy for Early Childhood Development bringing together different line agencies that play a critical role in the life of a child,” said UNICEF Representative in Vietnam Youssouf Abdel-Jelil.

Scene at the conference in Hanoi on September 8^th, introducing a national programme ensuring comprehensive development for children in early years at home and in the community. (Photo: VNA)

The National Programme on Care for Comprehensive Development of Children in Early Years at Home and in the Community for the period of 2017-2025 is carried out in two phrases from 2018 to 2020 and from 2021 to 2025 concentrating on localities with economic difficulties.

In Vietnam, close to 25 per cent of children under five years of age suffer from stunting. Approximately 77 per cent of preschool age children (aged 3-5) and 13 per cent of kindergarten children (aged under 3) do not attend any formal pre-learning programme.

Every year, about 2,000 children experience violence and abuse and 170,000 children are without parental care.

The building of the national early childhood development programme aims to realise the Child Law 2016 to contribute to the implementation of sustainable development goal in Vietnam./.

VNF