Vietnam will build an epidemic alarm network from the central to grassroots levels in order to discover diseases that may develop into epidemics in the community, said Dr. Nguyen Van Binh, deputy head of the Preventive Healthcare Department under the Ministry of Health.

The number of Vietnamese guest workers in the United Arab Emirates has so far reached more than 3,000, according to the Overseas Labour Management Department under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Vietnam on July 5 imported an additional one million doses of type O vaccine against the foot-and-mouth disease, according to the Veterinary Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The Vietnam Red Cross launched an action month for Agent Orange (AO) victims and poor disabled people in northern Ha Tay province on July 4.

As many as 600,000 candidates began the first phase of the tertiary entrance exams on July 4, making up 70 percent of a total of 700,219 examinees sitting for maths in the morning and physics in the afternoon.

Vietnam’s Cat Tien National Park is expected to be recognised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as a World Natural Heritage Site in September 2006, according to the Heritage Department under the Ministry of Culture and Information.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is aiming to reduce the rate of HIV/AIDS infection among Vietnamese youth through a US$20-million project.

The “Sun Flower” coffee bar in the Central Highlands city of Da Lat has become well-known to local residents in recent years as all waiters there are young people with disabilities.

More than 1.7 million candidates across the country will begin tertiary entrance exams on July 4, a year-on-year increase of 12 percent, according to the Ministry of Education and Training.

Seventy experts from various technical schools in Asia are attending a four-day international seminar on sustainable development, which opened at the campus of RMIT International University Vietnam in HCM City on July 2.

The sixth Congress of the Overseas Vietnamese Association in the UK successfully concluded on July 2 with the participation of its members, overseas Vietnamese and staff members from the Vietnamese embassy and other representative agencies in the UK.

Hanoi aims to provide and re-generate jobs for approximately 90,000 workers, reduce the urban unemployment rate to less than 5.5 percent, increase the working time of rural workers from 85-90 percent, and increase the number of trained worker from 60-65 percent.

The National Tuberculosis Control Programme in Vietnam is considered one of the most effective schemes to eliminate the disease in developing countries, said health officials at a five-day TB conference in Hanoi.

Vietnam has exerted all-out efforts to promote gender equality, asserted the President of the Vietnam Women's Union (VWU) at the East Asian Ministerial Conference on Gender Equality which was opened in Tokyo, Japan, on June 30.

"Vietnam has more potential human resources than any other countries in the region," said Jonathan Pincus, senior economist of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Vietnam will launch a pilot programme on the development of a national environmental observation network with assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Zoo officials from as far as Europe and Africa will attend the 15th annual conference of the Southeast Asian Zoos Association in HCM City in September, said Nguyen Thi Hien Luong, Director of the Sai Gon Zoological and Botanical Garden.

Educational unionists from Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam gathered in Hanoi on June 28 to discuss challenges and action plans to ensure the equality of education for disadvantaged children.

Vietnam is an example of protecting children's rights in the region through its priority programmes, said Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Toshoyuki Niwa in Hanoi on June 27.

Director of the Human Development Department of the African region of the World Bank (WB) Yaw Ansu has said that Vietnam’s experience in the field of education will provide good ideas for education reforms in African countries.

Recent population censuses have showed that there is a rising trend towards small sized families in Vietnam - a country rated by ESCAP as Southeast Asia's fastest growing economy in 2006.

With a poor household rate of 42 percent and annual GDP per capita of US$300, Cao Bang is one of the poorest provinces in Vietnam. VOVNews interviewed Ha Ngoc Chien, deputy secretary of the provincial Party’s Committee and chairman of the provincial People’s Committee on its poverty reduction programme.

It is very important to raise public awareness about HIV/AIDS. The mass media should introduce the images of HIV/AIDS patients who dare talk about their disease and feel comfortable to live a longer and more productive life, said international HIV/AIDS advisor Henriette Laursen, who is working for Danish-funded project concerning HIV/AIDS in the workplace, in an interview granted to VOVNews.

Eight ministers of education from African countries have gathered in Vietnam for the first time to take part in a seminar on education policies.

Vietnam responds to the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking 2006 with increasing efforts to provide them with vocational training and jobs even though the figure remains low, standing at just 20-30 percent. How to achieve annual target of detoxification for 55,000-60,000 drug is a major challenge.

Many students from universities and colleges and others from the Social Education and Labour Centres attended a meeting in Hanoi on June 25 to mark the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking 2006.

Various organisations, agencies and individuals contributed more than VND333 million to help Agent Orange (AO)/Dioxin victims during an exchange programme with AO victims, entitled “Nhip cau nhan ai” (Charitable bridge) held in Hanoi on June 25.

VOVNews online (http://www.vov.org.vn), in co-ordination with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), on June 25 held an online exchange entitled “HIV/AIDS prevention and control in the workplace” with the participation of doctors from the Infection Department of Dong Da Hospital in Hanoi.

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved a US$100 million non-interest loan to help Vietnam reduce poverty in 10 years. This is the fifth Poverty Reduction Strategy Credit (PRSC5) provided to support the country’s poverty reduction and hunger elimination efforts.