PANO – According to the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs, the Prime Minister has approved a national program on children protection, with a budget of VND 1.8 trillion, from 2011 to 2015.

This is the first comprehensive national program, which was proposed by the Ministry of Labour, War invalids and Social Welfare, in association with the UNICEF.

Currently, there are 4.3 million underprivileged Vietnamese children, accounting for 18% of the total number of children nationwide. Therefore, the program aims to reduce the rate of underprivileged children to 5.5%, to support them to integrate into the society, to reduce and eliminate the risk of 70% of them falling into an underprivileged status.

According to the plan, half of the central provinces and cities will have an effective system of protecting children by 2015.

Translated by Dinh Tu