Each year Vietnam’s coastal provinces are battered by up to 12 major tropical storms and the impact of climate change is believed to have increased the risk of both flooding and droughts in many parts of the country. Additionally, there is great vulnerability, particularly in poorer, more remote communities, to a range of communicable diseases including diarrhoea, dengue, HIV/ AIDS and avian influenza – all of which amounts to a need for good prevention, preparedness and response systems.
However, with one of the fastest-growing economies in the region, and with support of many government, non-government and corporate partners from around the world, the longer-term outlook is positive. This was demonstrated most recently during the Partnership Meeting of the Vietnam Red Cross Society (VNRC) on 28 August, involving over 150 participants who pledged their support to humanitarian projects in areas of disaster management, social welfare, community-based health care and capacity building.
One area of emphasis was the need for good legal frameworks to facilitate humanitarian activities of the different partners involved. Having recently revised the legal status of the VNRC through the Red Cross Activities Law, the Vice-President of Vietnam, Mme Nguyen Thi Doan, affirmed the State’s commitment to creating the most favourable conditions and the best legal framework for humanitarian activities.
In the Federation’s welcoming address, Country Representative Ms Irja Sandberg highlighted the adoption of the IDRL Guidelines in Geneva last year and described the work of the IDRL Asia Pacific Unit in encouraging their implementation in domestic legal systems. She described the upcoming project planned for Vietnam, which aims to research and recommend ways of strengthening legal preparedness measures to support responses to disasters and communicable disease outbreaks.
“We believe that the results of the Legal Preparedness Project in Vietnam will prove useful for all those involved in preparing for and responding to disasters and diseases and will ensure that humanitarian assistance will reach those in need as quickly and efficiently as possible”, said Sandberg.
The Legal Preparedness Project has also been welcomed by the Ministry of Health, which supported funding of the project from the Pooled Funds of the ADB’s Greater Mekong Sub-Regional Communicable Diseases Control Project, and has identified its Deputy Director of Communicable Disease Control as a focal point for the initiative.
The Federation also hosted a multi-agency briefing on the Legal Preparedness Project for Vietnam, facilitated by Victoria Bannon (IDRL Asia Pacific Coordinator) on 29 August. The session attracted over 20 participants from a variety of local and international agencies. The project was greeted with enthusiasm and suggestions were made for integrating this work into a number of ongoing disaster management and pandemic preparedness initiatives.