Participants in the conference agreed that raising public awareness is one of the key measures to minimise the number of children injured by accidental injury.

They also suggested the Government instruct authorised agencies to urgently improve policies for underprivileged children, including increasing the minimum allowance, providing free medical check-ups and treatment for HIV-AIDS infected and sexually-abused children and the disabled.

By December 2007, Vietnam reported around 1.4 million disadvantaged children, including orphans, HIV-AIDS victims, disabled children, child labourers, street children, drug addicts and those sexually abused, with 1.8 million others living in poor families.

The conference was co-organised by the National Assembly Committee for Culture, Education, Teenagers and Children and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).