US NGOs Fund Nearly $1.5Mln for Health Sector in Central Vietnam

Health: US NGOs Fund Nearly $1.5Mln for Health Sector in Central Vietnam Vietnam News Brief Service (c) 2006 Toan Viet Limited Company. All rights reserved. The US non-governmental organizations of East Meets West and Atlantic Philanthropies have recently funded nearly $1.5 million for eye care and treatment and health workers training in the central region of Vietnam. Of the total aid, $1.3 million comes in forms of medical equipment donation for the Danang Eye Hospital and over $100,000 is used to finance training for health officials of the hospital and other medical units in the central region. In the past 10 years, over 80 foreign NGOs have established relationships with the former Quang Nam- Da Nang province and now Quang Nam province and Danang City in many various areas. In recent times, branches and localities in Danang City have made efforts to mobilize and manage foreign NGOs aid resource. They mostly directed the donated capital to priority areas, such as agriculture, health care, education, community development, infrastructure construction and environment protection. The health care sector now account for 26.9% of the total projects funded by NGOs, education 16.2%, society 13.8%, hunger eradication and poverty alleviation 10.8%, agriculture 9.2%, community development 2.3%, infrastructure construction and environment improvement 7.7%, culture 1.5% and urgent relief 11.5%. Vietnam is home to over 2,000 NGOs, including nearly 600 international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), mainly operating in HIV/AIDS prevention, healthcare, education, natural disaster prevention and relief, and children and women’s protection. Last year, INGOs had a total disbursement of $160 million, boosting the country’s poverty reduction and socio-economic development.