In the first half of this year, traffic order and safety remained a serious issue as accident-related deaths rose at an alarming rate despite a drop in the number of traffic accidents from a year earlier. It is imperative to take drastic measures to reduce the number of people killed and injured by traffic accidents in the coming months.

Around 39,000 new people are infected with HIV/AIDS annually in Vietnam, bringing the total current number of people contracted with HIV/AIDS to 300,000, according to a recent survey conducted by the US Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Around 119 outstanding units and individuals were awarded the “For the Development of Communities” Golden Cup for the second time in Hanoi on July 16.

Australian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) pledged their continued support for poverty reduction and development projects in Vietnam.

All four Vietnamese students participating in the 2006 International Biology Olympiad (IBO) held in Cordoba, 1,000 km southwest of Buenos Aires, from July 9-15, won bronze medals.

Thirty people in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong have completed a training course on theology organised by the Vietnam Protestant Church of the South.

Statistics show that central Quang Tri province has 6,939 mine victims, of whom 2,598 died and the remainder wounded. About 35 percent of its natural land cannot be used for cultivation as it still contains bombs, mines and unexploded ordnances left over from the war.

The Vietnamese-born American hopes one day she will gather successful Vietnamese businesspeople in the US who were adopted by American couples to participate in humanitarian activities in the homeland.

According to the “Happy Planet Index” report by the New Economics Foundation (NEF), Vietnam tops the list of happiest Asian countries and ranks 12th among 178 countries in the world.

More than 60 professors, doctors and researchers on Buddhism from 30 countries are attending an international seminar entitled "Buddhism in the New Era- Opportunities and Challenges" in Ho Chi Minh City from July 15-17.

Say “no” to negative phenomena in examinations will be the topic for the 2006-2007 school year, said Minster of Education and Training Nguyen Thien Nhan during a working session with the Education and Training Department and the local Parent-Teacher Association in northern Ha Tay province on July 12.

The Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Ministry of Finance held a meeting in Hanoi on July 13 to implement the decree on self-control and self-responsibility of public science and technology organisations.

The Prime Minister has approved a master plan to develop the health care network through 2010 and a vision to 2020, which covers the preventive medical system, health care services at the grassroots level, as well as medicine manufacture and supply.

Vietnamese scientists will present the findings of a study on changes in blood, gene and immune systems of those people who were exposed to dioxin at an international conference on dioxin studies.

Ng Gek Boo, director of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific has praised the effective co-operation between the ILO and the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL).

The Pearl S. Buck International and the Training and Development Centre for Special Education will distribute 5,000 Vietnamese copies of the book “Helping Children Who Are Deaf” under a programme supported by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

The 2006 tertiary entrance exams have just concluded and this is the fifth consecutive year the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET)’s exam model has proven correct. However, the exams revealed certain shortcomings that need to be overcome in the coming years.

Over the past years, groups at the age of 10-19 and 19-24 have been targeted in strategic programmes of the National Committee for Population, Family and Children. The Ministry of Education and Training has co-ordinated with other relevant agencies to introduce an education programme on population, reproductive health and family planning into schools.

Nearly 1,000 Youth Union members and students from colleges in Hanoi on July 10 attended a meeting at the city’s Tu Liem district to launch a campaign entitled “Young People” for World Population Day (July 11). Thousands of leaflets were handed out as voluntary student teams seek to educate people about population work as well as adolescent reproductive and sexual health.

The avian influenza, which is endemic in Vietnam, has been successfully contained, according to Bui Quang Anh, Director of the Vietnam Veterinary Department at a conference on July 10 to review bird flu prevention work.

Vietnam’s population will continue to grow considerably in coming years and without strong determination and joint efforts by agencies and localities, the country will find it hard to maintain population of between 115-120 million in the middle of the 21st century.

Deputy PM Pham Gia Khiem has approved a plan to reinforce state management on drugs, cosmetics and food safety and hygiene for the 2006-2015 period.

Vietnam must step up efforts to redress social inequalities and improve education quality in future reforms if it wants to remain on the right track, local and international officials and scholars said at a round-table reviewing 20 years of Doi Moi (Renewal) in Hanoi recently.

Vietnam's population programmes, strategies and policies will give priority to young people in the coming future in order to increase the population's understanding about reproductive health, said Nguyen Thien Chuong, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Committee for Population, Family and Children.

A crack-down on women and children smuggling at the Vietnam-China border was launched at a conference held by the Ministry of Public Security in the northern border province of Lang Son on July 7.

Two groups of Vietnamese students left Vietnam on July 8 for two international Olympiads on mathematics and physics, according to the Ministry of Education and Training.

Rangers in northern border Quang Ninh province have discovered an illegal transport of live clouded leopard destined for China.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has agreed to grant more than US$3.76 million in non-refundable aid to help the National Committee on Population, Family and Children implement the second phase of the national population strategy from 2006 to 2010.

The National Committee for Population, Family and Children in co-ordination with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) recently held a press briefing on the World Day against Child Labour. According to the ILO, in 2004, around 218 million children in the world were exploited in terms of their labour, of whom 125 million were forced to work in hazardous environmental conditions.

Although the foot-and-mouth disease has been basically kept under control, it still broke out on small-scattered scales in the provinces of Bac Lieu, Lai Chau and Binh Phuoc, according to the Veterinary Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.