On the occasion of International Day for Eradication of Poverty and Day for the Poor in Vietnam (17/10), the Conference was the response activity for the sustainable development objective of United Nations till 2030, in which the commitment of eliminating all kind of poverty, leave no one behind.

At a conference, the Minister said that the Vietnamese Government replaced a one-dimensional approach by the multidimensional poverty measurement method for 2016 – 2020 in last September. Vietnam has taken the lead in applying a multidimensional poverty measurement approach in Asia, which is part of efforts to realise its commitments to eradicating poverty in all forms she said.

The approach, aiming to improve people’s livelihoods as well as their access to basic social services, especially health care, education, housing, clean water and information, is recommended by the international community to reduce poverty.

The Minister added Vietnam will overhaul its poverty elimination mechanisms and policies so as to address existing flaws. It will increase conditional loan packages, prioritise supports to low-income women and ethnics, and expand policies designed for near-poor households and those just rising out of poverty.

Vietnam will mobilise various resources for the work, particularly from the public and low earners themselves, while putting more effort into deprived communes and mountainous and ethnic minority communities to narrow the income gap among regions and demographic groups, the official noted.

At the forum, UN Resident Coordinator in Vietnam Pratibha Mehta highlighted that over the last 15 years, the poverty-hit household rate has dropped to below 10%, and primary education enrolment has approximated 100% for both boys and girls, while maternal mortality rate has been cut down by 75% since 1990.

A few countries have reaped those achievements, she said, noting that challenges are still ahead if Vietnam wants to realise the ambitious Sustainable Development Goals.

She pointed to Vietnam’s unfinished Millennium Development Goals on certain regions and demographic groups, especially ethnic minorities and mountainous areas. The income-related poverty rate among ethnics is currently 3.5 times higher than the national average.

Like other middle-income countries, Vietnam is facing an array of structural changes, including urbanisation, industrialisation, and internal migration. New forms of multidimensional poverty have appeared in the groups of migrants and workers in informal employment in cities, Mehta said.

A 2012 survey showed that the multidimensional poverty rate among migrants in Ho Chi Minh City was four times higher than that of the city’s dwellers. Meanwhile, a majority of Vietnam’s population still lives near the poverty line, and any shocks from natural disasters, economic changes or health problems could make them relapse into poverty, the UN Resident Coordinator stressed.