In the programme entitled "Join Hands" to raise funds for the poor, President Nguyen Minh Triet asked all sectors and localities to work out policies to help poor people make their ends meet and escape poverty.

The programme, the fifth of its kind so far, was co-organised by the Fatherland Front, the Vietnam Television (VTV) and the Military Telecom Corporation (Viettel).

Over the past six years, the Fatherland Front used money from the Fund for the Poor to build 490,000 houses for poor families.

There are about 3.7 million poor families in Vietnam. Every year, thousands of families are left homeless by natural disasters.