Experts urge better schools in field of natural sciences

HCM CITY — A network of quality high schools and universities should be set up to produce highly qualified human resources who will help advance the cause of natural sciences, experts told a workshop held in HCM City yesterday.

Prof Nguyen Van Hieu, former chairman of the Viet Nam Academy of Science and Technology, said researchers should take the initiative to link up with research institutes and universities to train students.

The Government should ensure laboratories are used efficiently and that good researchers get stable incomes, he said.

It should also enable researchers to collaborate with their counterparts from other countries, he said.

Prof Pham Phu of the HCM City University of Technology agreed, adding the Government should channel ODA funds into human-resource training.

For the development of natural sciences, Hieu listed seven fields the Government should prioritise – math, environmental protection, space science, agriculture, pharmaceutical science, information technology, and nano-technology.

The development of natural sciences will help the country effectively protect the environment, forecast natural calamities, and mitigate damages caused by them, he said.

It will also help improve the quality of people's life, he added.

Prof Dr Tran Ngoc Them, head of the faculty of culture at the HCM City Social Sciences and Humanities University, urged the Government to create conditions under which the results of research can be applied in daily life. — VNS

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Dutch firm leads energy saving campaign

HCM CITY — Philips Viet Nam and the central province of Quang Tri organised a campaign last week to save electricity by using it effectively.

The Dutch electronics giant donated 1,400 energy-efficient fluoresecent light bulbs of various kinds to 350 poor households in Thuan Commune in the province's Huong Hoa District.

The campaign has also been launched in the provinces of Vinh Long, Dong Thap, An Giang, Quang Ngai, and Binh Thuan.

Domestic violence recovery programme

HA NOI — Hagar officially launched its recovery programme for Vietnamese women who are victims of violence, sexual abuse and trafficking yesterday in Ha Noi.

At the opening ceremony, it also presented graduation certificates to 13 Vietnamese women who had joined its pilot training programme.

Hagar, founded in 1994, is an international Christian organisation committed to the recovery, empowerment and reintegration of women and children in Afghanistan, Cambodia and Viet Nam.

Police seize two tonnes of unlabelled chicken

HA NOI — Ha Noi Police found and seized a truck illegally carrying two tonnes of unlabelled chicken, lacking point of origin certification on Monday in Thuong Tin District, Ha Noi.

Nguyen Van Quang, 33, living in northern Hai Duong Province, the truck's driver admitted to the police that he had been hired to transport the chicken to Ha Vi Market in the district.

Quang failed to show any documents proving the point of origin of the chicken.

Substandard moon cakes pulled off shelves

HA NOI — Ha Noi Market Watch Department seized about 1,000 substandard moon cakes produced by Gia Huy moon cake producer in Long Bien District in Ha Noi on Monday.

The inspection revealed that the producer had used unquarantined eggs to make moon cakes. The inspectors also found 140 unquarantined eggs at the producer's.

Monks trained in HIV prevention

HCM CITY — Monks from the Buddhist Institute joined a two-day training course for preventing and minimising discrimination against those with HIV/AIDS on Monday in HCM City.

The course, held by the Viet Nam Fatherland Front Central Committee and Northern European Association in Viet Nam, aims to raise HIV/AIDS awareness among monks. — VNS

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Measles campaign targets 7.5 mln children

A new campaign launched by the Ministry of Health, including two vaccinations against measles for children aged between nine and 18 months, will cover 7.5 million children nationwide from September 24, in an effort to cover at least 95 percent of the target population.

"More than 7,000 cases of measles were reported in 2009, that's why we've launched the campaign," said Nguyen Tran Hien, director of the National Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI).

The EPI campaign will especially focus on outlying provinces, and replace the previous policy that dates back to 2002, in which children previously received two measles vaccinations at nine months and six years of age.

Health experts explained that two vaccinations within nine months would increase resistance rates from measles to more than 95 percent.

However, health experts discovered that only 85 percent of children had been protected after receiving their first shot of measles vaccine.

The three-month campaign was part of a campaign to minimize outbreaks of measles by 2012, said Hien, who is also director of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology.

About 15 percent of children under the age of six faced the risk of catching measles, and potentially acted as measles carriers, infecting other vulnerable groups, said Hien.

According to EPI statistics, the measles outbreak in 2009 was the largest since the country began a second round of booster vaccinations.

Four months after the first case was found, the outbreak spread to 57 provinces and cities, then to all 63 localities. However, no fatalities were reported. The measles infection rate focused mainly on 1-5-year-old and 18-26-year-old groups.

Priority will be given to implementing the campaign in mountainous and remote areas in northern provinces.

Measles vaccines, syringes and injection needles were provided by the World Health Organization through the United Nations Fund for Children.

According to EPI statistics, measles outbreaks occurred throughout the country, with more than 1,600 measles cases reported during the first eight months of 2010, of which nearly had 1,100 appeared in the south.

Vietnam has about 12 million of children aged below six years of age.

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Tay Ninh gives vaccine to Cambodian neighbor

The southern province of Tay Ninh is considering the provision of 10,000 doses of vaccine and 200 liters of antiseptic worth over VND200 million (US$10,264) for neighboring Kom Pong Cham, to help the Cambodian province stamp out its ongoing foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in livestock.

To avoid the spread of disease to bordering areas, Tay Ninh province has urged Kom Pong Cham authorities to strictly control the ill livestock and not allow the transport of cattle from the epidemic areas across the border into Vietnam, said Nguyen Thai Son, Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The province has also asked police, customs, border guard and market management forces as well as the people’s committees of border districts to strengthen coordination in preventing illegal cross-border cattle transport.

From September 15 to October 20, the province will conduct an inoculation against blood infections and FMD on its livestock.

According to the Cambodian side, by Tuesday, Kom Pong Cham province had around 14,000 cattle affected by FMD, including nearly 400 deaths.

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Vietnam War photographer Page hospitalized in Hanoi

Famous Vietnam War photo journalist Tim Page was hospitalized Sunday with a broken pelvis after falling in Hanoi.

Page, 66, took a false step in front of a hotel, local news website Dan Tri reported. He is being treated at the SOS International Hospital before being transferred to Thailand for surgery.

The British photographer made his name during the Vietnam War. One of his most famous works, Requiem, is a portfolio of work by combat photographers who died in Vietnam and Indochina.

Page joined the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan last year to photograph democratic and peace building efforts in the country. The mission calls him “one of the world’s most renowned photographers."

“His career started in 1962 at the age of 18, when he traveled from Britain to Asia and ended up taking some of the most famous pictures of the Vietnam War in the 1960s,” it says in a statement on its website.

Page, together with other photographers like David Guttenfelder, David Leeson and Steve Northup, regularly provide training courses for Vietnamese photo journalists, Dan Tri said.

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Vietnam War photographer Page hospitalized in Hanoi

Famous Vietnam War photo journalist Tim Page was hospitalized Sunday with a broken pelvis after falling in Hanoi.

Page, 66, took a false step in front of a hotel, local news website Dan Tri reported. He is being treated at the SOS International Hospital before being transferred to Thailand for surgery.

The British photographer made his name during the Vietnam War. One of his most famous works, Requiem, is a portfolio of work by combat photographers who died in Vietnam and Indochina.

Page joined the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan last year to photograph democratic and peace building efforts in the country. The mission calls him “one of the world’s most renowned photographers."

“His career started in 1962 at the age of 18, when he traveled from Britain to Asia and ended up taking some of the most famous pictures of the Vietnam War in the 1960s,” it says in a statement on its website.

Page, together with other photographers like David Guttenfelder, David Leeson and Steve Northup, regularly provide training courses for Vietnamese photo journalists, Dan Tri said.

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Vietnamese Days in Russia begin

The Vietnamese pavilion was opened on September 14 at the 19 th International Exhibition of Food and Drink in Moscow , Russia , marking the start of the “Vietnamese Days in Russia-2010” programme that will last through Sept. 19.

The programme will include an economic forum on the strategic partnership and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Russia , a Vietnam-Russia business forum and the fifth Vietnamese entrepreneurs’ forum in Europe .

An art performance on the theme of “ Vietnam ’s hidden beauty”, a photo exhibition on Vietnamese land and people and an exhibition on the 1,000 th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi – will also be held.

Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang, who cut the ribbon to open the Vietnamese section at the World Food Moscow 2010, said this is the first time Vietnam has attended such an exhibition in Russia .

Vietnam’s participation in the exhibition and “Vietnamese Days in Russia – 2010” aim to create conditions for the two countries’ businesses to diversify their cooperation through direct investment in Vietnam or joint ventures with Vietnamese partners in manufacturing products, said the minister.

“Vietnamese Days in Russia – 2010” is expected to enhance the traditional friendship and cooperation between the two peoples as well as the two countries’ businesses and ministries, he added./.

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