On the occasion of the coming Lunar New Year 2009, in January 21st 2009 afternoon, a delegation of representatives of Vietnam Women’s Union (Women’s Aids, Reproductive Health Center), American Doctors of the World (DOW) and Bright Future Group visited and delivered presents to 46 families having HIV infected children in the 3 districts of Gia Lam, Long Bien and Dong Anh of Hanoi.

In each stage of the revolutionary cause, the Vietnam Women's Union has always encouraged Vietnamese women to join campaigns on creative labour, building of happy families and contribution to socio-economic development.

Opera singer Thang Long has been invited to perform in W.A. Mozart’s ‘Magic Flute’ at Norrlands Opera Theatre in Umea, Sweden.

Nguyen Ngoc Tu is Vietnam’s first youngest female writer who has been nominated to receive the ASEAN Literature Award 2008.

Representatives from 26 northern cities and provinces have attended a training workshop on the Laws on Gender Equality and Family Violence Prevention in northern Bac Giang province on Sept. 23 and 24.

Measures to enhance prevention of child accidental injury and implementation of policies for disadvantaged children were high on agenda of a two-day conference that concluded in central Da Nang city on September 18.

The Ministry of External Relations from the Democratic Popular Republic of Korea has announced the decision of suspending the activities for dismantlement of nuclear activities in the country.

On the evening of the last day of every month, Mong ethnic minorities in the Bac Yen District, Son La Province gather around their television sets to see something they’ve never seen before.

The Government on August 5 issued a decree banning transsexuality for people with perfect sex. This is applied to all organizations and individuals at home and abroad.

Vietnam strives to achieve the universalisation of junior high school education throughout the country by the end of the first decade of the 21st century.

In order to implement the second step of the plan titled “Strengthen and improve the quality of local Women’s Union activities and its members”, in the first six months of 2008, Đong Nai provincial Women’s Union organized a lot of activities to diversify the formality and contents contributing the active changes in motivating women to participate in the movement of building new lives

In the first 6 months of 2008, WUs of all levels in An Giang province had carried out many meaningful activities, below are some of those:

The Investigation Department of Social Order Crimes under the Ministry of Public Security on July 22 - 23 co-ordinated with Lang Son Province Police to organise a conference on an anti - child and women trafficking shock fight.

Doctors from the Vietnam-Cuba friendship hospital have coordinated with the US’s Operation Smile to provide surgery for 82 children with harelip and cleft palate from the northern provinces of Bac Giang, Nam Dinh and Tuyen Quang in the past two weeks.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) had adopted the UNSC Chair’s Statement prepared by Vietnam in addition to introducing orientations for new actions related to healthcare, education, and technical assistance to address long-term consequences of armed conflicts to children and speed up the implementation of related legal documents, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem said.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem called for a long-term and comprehensive solution to children affected by armed conflict (CAAC) at an open debate of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in New York on July 17.

The report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says Vietnam, together with Myanmar, is the country that have made remarkable progress in implementing the UN Millennium Development Goals.

Over 5,400 Vietnamese heroic mothers are provided with care by agencies, organisations, enterprises and individuals.

Cam Giang spends time with a special club in Vinh Tuy Ward, where old folks infected with HIV get a new lease on life through vocational training and activities such as baloon folding.

Many conferences and workshops have been held and many extensive campaigns have been launched against human trafficking. However, the criminals are still at large. How can the country find an effective measure to stop this serious crime?

The face of an eight-year old girl in a pink dress brightens when she talks about her class and her games with friends. She also likes singing. Looking at her, no-one would imagine that this optimistic and happy girl, Nguyen Thi Xuan is living with HIV/AIDS.

In Vietnam,’ empathy clubs’ are helping to ease the stress felt by older carers of people living with HIV and AIDS.

Vietnam Military Telecommunication Corporation (Viettel) has committed in partnership with the Operation Smile Vietnam organisation to funding operations for about 100 - 120 children suffering harelips and cleft palates, who are living in the northern rural areas, in July, 2008.

As of late May 2008, about 181,600 ethnic minority households with nearly 767,000 people in the whole country still suffered hunger. This is announced at a conference held in Hannoi on July 1 on deploying the Government's Decree 60/2008/NÐ-CP.

Industry experts say education, intellect becoming just as important as looks at international beauty pageants – Vietnam should take note.

Vietnam wants to contribute to the full and effective implementation of UN resolutions, including those adopted by the Security Council, aimed at creating “A World Fit for Children”.

Ton Nu Thi Ninh, former Deputy Chairwoman of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Committee, who has been well known in Vietnam and the world as the wonderful diplomat, says that she wants to prove that Vietnamese people are not only industrious and skilful, but also very creative.

On March 8th, 1948 the first bulletins credited to a Vietnamese women’s newspaper were circulated in Viet Bac – the holy revolutionary base of Vietnam during the resistance against the French colonialists.

That Vietnam is selected to host the United Nations Day of Vesak and the fifth International Buddhist seminar is a pride of the whole nation, President of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front (VFF) Huynh Dam has said.

A senior government official reiterated Vietnam’s policy on freedom of religious beliefs, saying that Buddhism and other religions enjoy equality in development in Vietnam and they have markedly contributed to national development.

Vietnam’s security chief has called for Law on Drug Prevention and Combat revisions and supplements to be considered to provide a legal system able to deal with the realities of combating drugs.

A programme that has established rehabilitation centres, vocational training provision and job generation for former drug addicts in seven provinces and cities has recorded encouraging results after five years of implementation.

Northern mountainous Yen Bai province has got better TV programmes from central station thanks to a project funded by the Spanish government.

The Belgium-based Donxa organisation will finance surgeries for 32 poor disabled children in northern Vinh Phuc province, which is estimated to cost two million VND each.

Making national occupational security and hygiene ( OSH ) programmes for ASEAN countries was the theme of an international symposium opened in Hanoi on May 12 with the host Vietnam setting an example.

With an alarming number of homeless children in Viet Nam, one Vietnamese couple is trying to follow the commandment "love your neighbours as yourself", bringing disadvantaged children into their own home.

Left for dead and mauled by wild animals, little Phung Thien Nhan’s early days were filled with tragedy. But today the two-year-old is enjoying a positive twist to his unhappy fate - and the promise of a new start in life.

Sung A Cau’s one-year-old son was kidnapped by human traffickers in Mu Sang Ward in Lai Chau Province while his wife was visiting relatives.

With fewer women born and more of them marrying foreigners, a lot of men may be left feeling lonely.

Who is the perfect modern woman? A high-powered businessperson or a skilful housewife?

For academics at Memorial University of Newfoundland and in Vietnam health problems are part of larger social issues and require the expertise of social workers

GIPA commitment review meeting was held by GIPA project in Vietnam Women’s Museum in the morning of March 19th, to share experiences and finding solutions to promote effectively GIPA commitments addressed in GIPA National Workshop in August 2007.

Sixty- five -year- old Nguyen Thi Kim Chung’s late son was forced to rely on supportive relatives to buy medicine. As a housewife, Chung has no pension, forcing her to depend on her husband’s meagre salary to cover the daily needs of her five-member family.

The police and border guards will intensify their operations in 2008 to crack down on women and children trafficking acrossing borderlines with China and Cambodia.

If Thuan Thi Tru has her way, Cham-style brocade fabrics will become a fashion statement worldwide.

THANH HOA — Nursing mother Le Thi Nghia burst into tears when food and medicine arrived at the Thach Thanh General Hospital.

The workshop was organized from 29 to 30 August in Hanoi with the participation of core cadres from 17 provincial/municipal Women’s Unions working on the project “Access to Coordinated Credit and Enterprise Development Services.”

To develop the traditional moral standard of “when drinking water, remember its source”, VWU takes great interest in returning war heroes’ favor and has implemented a number of effective activities.

Cam Xuyen District, Ha Tinh Province, is making an all-out effort to stabilise the local population with the co-operation of the whole community.

Many people living in rural areas are flocking to cities, seeking urban opportunities to feed their families and improve the lives of their children.