The number of poor households has reduced but malnutrition in children is still prevalent, Mr Hendra says. Citizens’ spending their money on healthcare services is a great challenge for the implementation of a social equality target. The increase in inequality can slow down the poverty reduction process and erode social cohesion.  

To resolve the above issue, Mr Henda says, the National Target on Poverty Reduction in the 2006-2010 period and Programme 135 (a socio-economic development program for underprivileged communes in mountainous, remote and isolated areas) are a main part of Vietnam’s socio-economic development plan, making great contributions to poverty reduction and resolving social inequality by further providing resources and services to poor localities and households. The approval of the two programmes demonstrates the determination of the Vietnamese Government to implement a poverty reduction programme and meet Millennium Development Goals, Mr Hendra confirms.

Regarding priorities to poverty reduction, Mr Hendra says though Vietnam has made remarkable changes, the country still needs to address some pending issues. First, Vietnam needs to meet demands of the poor and provide them with the opportunities to get involved in planning, implementing and managing the programme. Participating and supervising will be the only way to make sure that the programme provides top quality services.

In addition, it is necessary to give more powers to localities in implementing and managing the programme with a view to ensuring the quality of the programme.

Stronger investment is also required in enhancing capacity at a local level, improving supervision and managing systems and in implementing the democratic statute other grass-roots level to increase transparency.

Right in the building and implementing the poverty reduction programme, the United Nations, together with other sponsors such as the UK and Finland, has strongly supported Vietnam by providing programme assessment and technical assistance to draw up implementation instructions and programme management documents.

The UN will continue to support Vietnam’s poverty reduction programme in the future. The UN will gather experiences from the international community and provide Vietnam with technical assistance to enhance its capacity. And it will also assist the Vietnamese Government to manage investment resources from relevant organizations, including sponsors, to make sure that the programme will be carried out with the highest possible effectiveness to provide high-quality services for poor men, women and children.