Our world today is dealing with a crisis of monumental proportions. The vicious, novel coronavirus is wreaking havoc across the globe, destroying lives and ruining livelihoods.

The primary cost of the pandemic as seen in the loss of human lives is distressing, but the secondary effects on the global economy, on livelihoods and on sustainable development prospects are even more alarming.

The International Monetary Fund estimates that our world has entered into a recession, and while the full economic impact of the crisis is difficult to predict, the costs of the pandemic will no doubt be astronomical, with preliminary estimates placing it at a whopping US$2 trillion.

The pandemic has utterly exposed fundamental weaknesses in our global system. It has shown beyond doubt how the prevalence of poverty, weak health systems, lack of education, and above all sub-optimal global cooperation, is exacerbating the crisis.

If there was ever any doubt that our world faces common challenges, this pandemic should categorically put to rest that doubt.

The on-going crisis has re-enforced the interdependence of our world. It has brought to the fore the urgent need for global action to meet people's basic needs, to save our planet and to build a fairer and more secure world.

We are faced with common, global challenges that can only be solved through common, global solutions. After all, in a crisis like this we are only as strong as the weakest link. This is what the SDGs, the global blueprint to end poverty, protect our planet and ensure prosperity, are all about.

Sadly, this ferocious, sudden on-set pandemic has come at a time when the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were getting good traction and a significant number of countries were making good progress in their implementation.

As the world is seized with containing the spread of the virus and addressing its negative and debilitating impacts, the reality is that countries are resetting their priorities, and reallocating resources to deal with the pandemic.

This certainly is the right thing to do because the priority now is to save lives, and we must do so at all costs.

That is why we must all support the call by the United Nations for scaling up the immediate health response to suppress the transmission of the virus, to end the pandemic and to focus on people particularly, women, youth, low-wage workers, small and medium enterprises, the informal sector and vulnerable groups who are already at risk.

Working together we can save lives, restore livelihood and bring the global economy back on track.

But what we cannot afford to do even at these crucial times is to shift resources away from priority SDGs actions. The response to the pandemic cannot be de-linked from actions on the SDGs.

Indeed, achieving the SDGs will put us on a solid foundation and a firm path to dealing with global health risks and emerging infectious diseases.

Achieving SDGs Goal 3 will mean strengthening the capacity of countries for early warning, risk reduction and management of national and global health risks.

This pandemic has manifestly exposed the crisis in global health systems. And while it is severely undermining prospects for achieving global health by 2030, critically it is having direct far-reaching effects on all the other SDGs.

The emerging evidence of the broader impact of the crisis on our quest to achieve the SDGs must be troubling for all. UNESCO estimates that some 1.25 billion students are affected by this pandemic, posing a serious challenge to the attainment of SDGs Goal 4; and according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) some 25 million people could lose their jobs with those in informal employment suffering most from lack of social protection during this pandemic.

Unfortunately, these might just be the tip of the iceberg.

Crucially, in many parts of the world, the pandemic and its effects are being exacerbated by the crisis in delivering on clean water and sanitation targets (SDG Goal 6), weak economic growth and the absence of decent work (SDGs Goal 8), pervasive inequalities (SDGs Goal 10), and above all, a crisis in poverty (SDGs Goal 1) and food security (Goal 2).

The World Bank estimates that the crisis will push some 11 million people into poverty.

Even at this stage in this deadly pandemic, we cannot deny the fact that the crisis is fast teaching us, as global citizens, the utmost value in being each other's keeper, in working to leave no one behind, and in prioritising the needs of the most vulnerable in society.

As our world strives to deal with the challenges posed by the pandemic, we ultimately must seek to turn the crisis into an opportunity and ramp up actions necessary to achieve the SDGs.

The spirit of solidarity, quick and robust action to defeat the virus that we are witnessing must be brought to bear on the implementation of the Goals.

The quantum of stimulus and pecuniary compensation packages that is being made available to deal with the pandemic make it clear that, when it truly matters, the world has the resources to deal with pressing and existential challenges. The SDGs are one such challenge.

What is acutely needed is enhanced political will and commitment. Our world has the knowledge, capacity and innovation, and if we are ambitious enough, we can muster the full complement of resources needed to implement successfully the Goals.

Buoyed by the spirit of solidarity, Governments, businesses, multi-lateral organisations and civil society have in the shortest possible time been able to raise billions, and in some cases, trillions to support efforts to combat this pandemic.

If we attach the same level of importance and urgency to the fight against poverty, hunger, climate change and towards all the other goals, we will be well poised for success in this Decade of Action on the SDGs.

As the world responds to the effects of this brutal pandemic, and seeks to restore global prosperity, we must focus on addressing underlying factors in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals.

We must not, and cannot relent in our efforts, even amid this painful pandemic. While some of the gains on the SDGs have been eroded, this should not deflate our efforts.

They should rather spur us to accelerate and deepen our efforts during this Decade of Action to ‘recover better', and build a healthier, safer, fairer and a more prosperous world, so necessary in avoiding future pandemics.

To timely and effectively respond to modern wars, especially the enemy’s irregular warfare, we have been studying and improving military theory of strategic operations, including compound offensive operation, with a view to developing Viet Nam’s military art, contributing to firmly defending the Homeland in any situations.

Viet Nam’s 2018 Military Strategy has defined compound offensive operation as one form of strategic operations, which is likely to take place in the war to safeguard the Homeland. Compound offensive operation is a synergistic fusion of methods for establishing postures, use of forces and employing operational measures to annihilate and defeat domestic disruptive forces and foreign military intervention and is conducted through military operations in conjunction with struggle in political, economic, cultural, social, and diplomatic fronts, in which operational activities are the core. This operational modality is staged according to a unified intention and plan of the Politburo and the Central Military Commission (CMC) as well as the concentrated leadership, command and control of the Ministry of National Defence (MND) with the aim of engaging and destroying the majority of the enemy forces; crushing the newly-formed reactionary regime; and holding firm to key targets and areas to create conducive conditions for carrying out strategic operations to firmly maintain independence, sovereignty, and sociopolitical stability of the country. Compound offensive operation serves as the core of a concept of operations, which rules over the whole process of preparation and conduct of strategic operations. It occurs on a theatre of war or in a strategic direction and can be carried out intertwinedly with other forms of strategic operations in the war to safeguard the Homeland. This is a novel type of strategic operations to respond to emerging irregular warfare of the enemy.

Currently, according to military experts in the world, irregular warfare is the most feasible and effective form, which results in fewer casualties but still achieves the assigned objectives. They believe that irregular warfare is conducted to provide support to resistance movements or uprisings aimed to put pressure, sabotage or overthrow an administration or occupying force by means of coordinating operational activities between joint forces and local opposing forces (or by the local opposing forces alone) in a nation or region under the control of the opposing administration or occupying force. Irregular warfare is an option, which can be made at any phases of an operation and is regarded as a political, military instrument for achieving national strategic aims. As for Viet Nam, irregular warfare is launched by hostile forces when their strategies to incite “peaceful evolution,” “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” have shown certain outcomes. Given foreign militaries’ backing, the disruptive forces at home and abroad have become strong enough both politically and militarily and been able to realise their strategic goals. Special operations forces and allied forces have been ready to intervene in the crisis.

When the hostile forces conduct irregular warfare, they resort to a fusion of unarmed and armed methods, including “peaceful evolution,” riots, resistance movements or uprisings of the masses induced by internal reactionary forces and supported by foreign military intervention with a view to causing serious consequences in terms of politics, society, security, national defence, etc., thus putting pressure, paralysing and neutralising state management, eradicating the leading role of the Communist Party of Viet Nam (CPV), and abolishing socialist regime in our country. To accomplish their objectives, they will attack and seize key strategic areas, call for international support, drive the country into civil war, establish a reactionary, secessionist administration. At the same time, they secretly make preparation and buildup of forces, seize opportunities to help exile armed reactionary groups infiltrate into Viet Nam to provoke political riots in conjunction with armed ones to attack and seize some key areas, establish a reactionary secessionist administration and call for international backing. The hostile forces abroad use this as a pretext to make military intervention, provide material support, launch air strikes against nationwide, use the special operations forces and exile reactionary forces to support the internal reactionary forces to lodge claims and call for international intervention.

Therefore, irregular warfare is the hostile forces’ new form of war of aggression waged against our country. To proactively repulse the risk of war and be prepared to defeat the enemy aggressive plots require units in the whole military, especially those in charge of strategic studies, to continue to research and elaborate on methods to deal with this novel form of warfare. Accordingly, the guiding thoughts for countering irregular warfare are offensive; to make full use of internal and external resources; creatively and flexibly apply forms of struggle, including military, politics, diplomacy, to generate overall power in wars to defeat any strategic plots and measures of the enemy, protecting the Party, State, people, national interests, and territorial sovereignty.

The compound offensive operation seeks to bring into play the posture of people’s war, which has been built on the basis of defence posture of provinces, cities, military regions, and mobile forces of the MND in the areas. It mobilises people to stage political protests and propaganda to induce defection of enemy troops to establish a posture of legal struggle while secretly moving armed forces to approach targets to form an offensive posture conducive to our forces. It is necessary to concentrate on striking major targets (reactionary, secessionist administration and defensive forces), closely combine engagement with the enemy inside and outside fortifications and uprisings of the masses and defeat the interventionist forces through battles and operations at appropriate scales. In compound offensive operation, there needs to flexibly apply operational methods; take the main force’s operations as the key; inextricably link military operations with political, economic, diplomatic struggle; mobilise people to abandon the reactionary force; vanquish the enemy’s combat and non-combat activities; rebuild local authorities and unions; and take opportunities to proactively terminate the war in our favour.

Compound offensive operation has the following fundamental connotations:

The establishment of posture is an extremely important content, which is of practical value not only in the history of struggle for national defence but also in the liberation war and the wars to defend Southwest border and Northern border of the Homeland. Today, posture has become increasingly vital and an indispensable element in any types of operations of the military art of Vietnamese people’s war. The combination of the military force’s operational posture and the political force’s struggle posture is a guiding principle in the formation of the compound offensive operation posture. The specific posture of compound offensive operation includes the postures of deployment and disposition of the armed forces in defence zones of provinces, cities and military regions as well as enlightened people in the areas. These postures are built since peacetime, materialised according to operational plans in each theater of war and strategic direction, and perfected when the war breaks out. This factor plays a proactive and active role in establishing the foundation for us to conduct compound offensive operation.

Organisation and employment of forces is a crucial content, which decides the success or failure of operational plans in general, compound offensive operation in particular; defeats the strategic schemes of the enemy; and directly triumphs over the enemy’s type of operations in irregular warfare. Should the war to safeguard the Homeland occur, we need to creatively apply the art of posture establishment and use of forces to conduct people’s war in the national history of fighting against foreign aggressors, most notably the wars led by the CPV and President Ho Chi Minh in the 20^th century. In compound offensive operation, attention should be paid to inextricably combining on-site force and the mobile one because these two basic elements are unique features of Vietnamese people’s war.

To defeat the enemy’s irregular warfare in a theater of war or specific strategic direction by means of compound offensive operation requires us to apply a fusion of strategic operations such as cyber operations, countering enemy fire, electronic warfare, the war to safeguard seas and islands, and strategic defensive, counterattack and offensive operations. These forms of operations do not occur separately but concurrently, consecutively, and one after the other in theaters of war or strategic directions. These types of operations are also conducted concurrently with diplomatic, political and economic struggle of forces in the areas and provincial, municipal defence zones in particular, of the whole political system in general. This is a unique characteristic of compound offensive operation.

Regarding the combination of military operations and other forms of struggle, it is necessary to take advantage of a just war to mobilise socio-political organisations at home and abroad, media outlets in a close conjunction with the special propaganda force to propagandise and encourage all people nationwide, progressive and peace-loving people in the world, particularly overseas Vietnamese, to support and actively participate in the just war. This combination greatly affects psychology, causes anxiety, sows division, and weakens enemy morale, contributing to heightening spirit and resolve of the whole people and armed forces. The combination of military struggle and struggle on other fronts generate new power for compound offensive operation. Besides, the close conjunction of political attacks, encouragement of enemy defection and surrender, battles and operations and struggle on the diplomatic, economic, cultural, ideological fronts serve to expose the enemy’s political plots and demagogic tricks, especially those of the reactionary, secessionist administration in the areas and provincial, municipal defence zones. There needs to actively propagandise people to raise their awareness of the justice of the war and persuade families of enemy troops and those working for the reactionary administration to join the revolutionary administration.

To effectively realise fundamental contents of compound offensive operation in the war to safeguard the Homeland requires us to deeply perceive and successfully implement some major solutions, including: (i) proactively forecasting operational plans and developing operational plan of compound offensive operation; (ii) building and strengthening elements and forces of political system at grass-roots levels with a focus on building pure, strong Party organisations; (iii) making authorities at all levels truly belong to the people, come from the people, and serve the people; (iv) building robust provincial, municipal defence zones; and (v) training to improve qualification, competence and ability to command and control operations of all forces.

The aforementioned solutions are inextricably entwined with one another to form an overall, comprehensive, systematic, scientific, logical structure in order to realise contents of compound offensive operation, in which the human factor is extremely important and plays a decisive role in organising and executing operations with the aim to defeat the opponent to firmly preserve sacred sovereignty and territories of the Homeland.

President Donald Trump's threat to abruptly cut all US funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) has been described as "reckless and deadly"—particularly at a time when the Geneva-based UN agency was engaged in an uphill battle against the spreading coronavirus.

The US president, who has dismissed WHO as "China-centric", has also been accused of playing politics with human lives—while he, in turn, blames the agency for mishandling the coronavirus outbreak and not supporting his earlier decision to bar Chinese from entering the US.

"The WHO failed in its basic duty and must be held accountable," he told reporters at a White House briefing April 14, "So much death has been caused by their mistakes", he said, as he continues to exaggerate his charges, as he is usually prone to in his daily life.

In a six-column spread, the New York Times said April 15 that Trump, seeing his popularity poll numbers drop, is blaming WHO for his virus mistakes.

"Recent polls show that more Americans disapprove of Mr Trump's handling of the virus, than approve," the Times said.

Asked if Trump was playing politics with human lives during a global health emergency, Abby Maxman, President & CEO of Oxfam America, told IPS: "Now more than ever."

The Trump administration, she pointed out, should prioritize the health and well-being of the American people, and the most vulnerable people around the globe, over politics.

"This is a time when we need to put politics and blame aside and work together to save lives and recover from this global pandemic together".

Asked if other donors will step in to fill the shortfall, if and when US cuts funding, Maxman said that WHO and other crucial agencies leading the response to this global health crisis must have the proper resources.

"We hope to see donors step up, and do whatever they can to ensure that WHO can continue its vital work."

Asked how feasible is this considering the global economic meltdown triggered by the coronavirus crisis, she said the global economy has taken an historically devastating blow, but nations must prioritize funding core agencies and measures, which include the World Health Organization.

"This is something we simply must find the funds for," she declared.

Donna McKay, executive director of Physicians for Human Rights warned that by halting funding to the WHO, President Trump is endangering the lives of millions of people around the world, particularly those most at risk during this historic pandemic.

"A global health emergency demands a global response," she said.

The World Health Organization provides vital international assistance and coordination. That President Trump would halt funding to WHO in the midst of an unprecedented pandemic is reckless and risks contributing to widespread death and suffering, McKay said.

"This move comes at precisely the wrong time. The pandemic is beginning to spread from high-income countries to countries with weak health systems. We urgently need more concerted, coordinated, and effective action from the global community, not less. And we need global leadership that understands and embraces coordination and collaboration," she declared.

When Trump first singled out WHO for criticism, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was blunt in his response, (even though he did not mention the US president by name): "If you don't want many more body bags, then you refrain from politicizing it."

Credit: WHO

Hitting back at Trump, without naming him, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the WHO, with thousands of its staff, is on the front lines, supporting Member States and their societies, especially the most vulnerable among them, with guidance, training, equipment and concrete life-saving services as they fight the virus.

"It is my belief that the World Health Organization must be supported, as it is absolutely critical to the world's efforts to win the war against COVID-19."

This virus, he pointed out,"is unprecedented in our lifetime and requires an unprecedented response."

"Obviously, in such conditions, it is possible that the same facts have had different readings by different entities. Once we have finally turned the page on this epidemic, there must be a time to look back fully to understand how such a disease emerged and spread its devastation so quickly across the globe, and how all those involved reacted to the crisis".

The lessons learned will be essential to effectively address similar challenges, as they may arise in the future.

But now is not that time, he cautioned.

And it is also not the time to reduce the resources for the operations of the World Health Organization or any other humanitarian organization in the fight against the virus, said Guterres.

In statement released April 14, Maxmansaid picking a fight with the World Health Organization during a pandemic is shortsighted, to say the least.

"Instead of bringing us together through this global crisis, President Trump has attacked leaders and agencies around the world, seeking to deflect blame for his own administration's failings."

"With this latest move to hold back funding from the WHO, President Trump is crippling any hopes for the responsible international cooperation and solidarity that is critical to save lives and restore the global economy," warned Maxman.

"Withholding funding and blame-shifting means wasted time and needless death, misery, and poverty. And it gets the US and the world no closer to an end to this disaster.

"As we at Oxfam scale up efforts to respond to the crisis in more than 50 countries around the world, we see firsthand that strong coordination and funding is vital to save lives on the ground.

"No one individual, community, or country can deal with this crisis alone. We must work together, in our communities and across borders, with dignity and compassion. No one is safe until everyone is safe. President Trump must immediately reverse course and act like the global leader the world expects."

The WHO's total programme budget for 2018-2019 was $4.4 billion, increasing to $4.8 billion for 2020-2021.

WHO has two primary sources of revenue: assessed contributions (paid by member states and based on each country's income and population) and voluntary contributions (additional funds provided by member states, private organizations and individuals.)

The US pays 22 percent of the budget, as it does with the United Nations.

McKay said while the WHO's COVID-19 response has been imperfect, the idea of ending U.S. funding for this vital UN body defies logic and imperils millions.

For one, leading U.S. and international researchers are collaborating on global vaccine trials through WHO, which is a hub of such essential research.

"President Trump appears to be looking for a scapegoat for the pandemic. He is trying to deflect attention from the devastating U.S. death toll and his own repeated failures to respond promptly and coherently to the pandemic," she noted.

McKay said: "Rather than attack the professionals at the WHO, President Trump should get health workers the personal protective equipment that they are dying without. He should collaborate with states and cities on a coordinated national response guided by science and human rights, not ideology and xenophobia. He must listen to medical experts at this time of great national and global peril."

"All institutions responding to COVID-19, be it at a local, national, or global level, should be transparent and accountable. But eviscerating the capacity of the world's essential health institution at a time like this is a profound mistake," she declared.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh proposed four main measures to fight the COVID-19 pandemic while addressing the Ministerial Video-Conference of the Alliance for Multilateralism on COVID-19 on April 16.

The first measure, Minh suggested, is to strengthen international solidarity and multilateral cooperation with the United Nations and the World Health Organisation (WHO) playing the central role, and improve the WHO’s operation efficiency to support developing countries.

Vietnam, within its capacity, will contribute to the joint efforts and is willing to provide “Made-in-Vietnam” medical equipment for others, he affirmed.

Secondly, it is important to share information, experience and research achievements, to ensure everyone have access to vaccines and medicine.

Thirdly, Minh called for stopping activities that affect disease response efforts, especially power politics and unilateral actions contrary to international law.

Vietnam supports the UN Secretary-General’s call for a global ceasefire and his appeal to waive sanctions that can undermine countries’ capacity to respond to the pandemic, he added.

The fourth measure the Vietnamese official proposed is to build post-COVID-19 development plans which include coordinated policies and measures to stimulate the economy, trade and investment, stabilise the financial market, and restore the confidence of businesses and people.

He also shared Vietnam’s active and prompt response efforts with people’s life and health given the top priority.

With high political determination and social unity, Vietnam has synchronously implemented such measures as compulsory quarantine, tracing people in contact with infected patients, and applying extensive testing and effective treatment methods. Therefore, Vietnam has to date basically controlled the disease with below 300 infections and no fatalities, Minh added.

The Ministerial Video-Conference attracted the participation of Foreign Ministers from 26 European, Asian-Pacific, Latin American and African countries, seeking ways to promote international solidarity to overcome the pandemic and discussing measures to strengthen multilateral mechanisms, espcially the WHO, to help them well fulfil their missions.

The Alliance for Multilateralism was created by Germany and France in April 2019. Vietnam has yet to enter the organisation./.

Ambassador Đặng Đình Quý, head of the Vietnamese Permanent Mission to the United Nations, on Wednesday (local time) reiterated Việt Nam’s viewpoint on condemning all use of chemical weapons.

He made the remarks while speaking at the UN Security Council’s online meeting on chemical weapons in Syria. The monthly meeting on the issue was convened on the basis of the council’s Resolution 2118 adopted in 2013.

Quý also stressed the significance of the full implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, and Việt Nam’s support for activities of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in line with the convention.

UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu provided information about the regular report of the OPCW Director General, from February 24 to March 23, on activities and co-operation between the organisation and Syria.

According to the report, OPCW has suspended all of its on-site activities due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic./.

“Rice ATMs” which have been set up around Vietnam to help those in need during the COVID-19 pandemic have been featured by international news broadcasters over the last few days.

The 24/7 automatic dispensing machines were invented by a Vietnamese entrepreneur in Ho Chi Minh City to provide free rice for people out of work following an ongoing nationwide social distancing order to curb the spread of the pandemic, Reuters reported on April 13.

It quoted a Vietnamese woman whose husband was among those to lose their jobs as saying the rice ATMs have been helpful.

“With this one bag of rice, we can have enough for one day,” said Nguyen Thi Ly, a 34-year-old mother of three. “Now, we only need other food. Our neighbors sometimes give us some leftover food, or we have instant noodles.”

The machine distributes a 1.5kg bagful of rice from a small silo to waiting workers, many of whom are street vendors or people who earn a living from cash-in-hand jobs like housekeeping or selling lottery tickets, according to the news agency.

On the same day, CNN ran a story reporting businessmen and donors who have set up machines that dispense free rice for people whose incomes have been suddenly cut off in several cities across the country.

In Hanoi, rice contained in a large water tank dispenses into residents’ bags from 8am to 5pm, it quoted Vietnam News Agency as saying.

Those waiting in line are required to stand 2 metres apart and they must use hand sanitiser before receiving their rice, it said.

According to Reuters, Hoang Tuan Anh, the businessman behind the idea, had initially donated a batch of smart doorbells to hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City before turning his technological expertise to food distribution.

Similar “rice ATMs” have been set up in other big cities like Hanoi, Hue and Da Nang.

“I refer to this machine as a 'rice ATM' because people can withdraw rice from it, assured that there are still good people out there who want to give them a second chance,” he said.

CNN also reported that Vietnam has more than 260 COVID-19 cases and zero deaths, numbers that are significantly lower than the rest of the world./.

Facebook is cooperating with the Vietnam Red Cross Society (VRC) and more than 60 artists along with partners and businesses in the country in the #SocialForGoodVN livestream to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

The programme will be broadcast live from 19:00 to 20:00 on April 17 on the Facebook accounts of artists Quyen Linh and Nguyen Ha My (Sam) and the fanpages of YEAH1, YAN, Dat Viet, Dien Quan, EyePlus, Cat Tien Sa, MCV, Multimedia, BHD, Orion Media, BH Media, and Next Media.

It aims to utilise the positive aspects of Facebook to call for public support for medical workers and people affected by the pandemic.

Participants will discuss topics relating to the pandemic and spread positive messages from artists.

Facebook has also launched a campaign called #ỞNhàLàNhất, to encourage people to stay at home and share tips on household chores.

Vietnamese artists will raise funds for VRC in support of medical workers and both confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients.

The fight against COVID-19 is gaining more strength as more support from the public was contributed to the efforts in the central city of Da Nang and Hanoi capital on April 6.

On March 6, the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Committee of Da Nang received more than 1 billion VND (over 42,600 USD) donated by the FPT Joint Stock Company, the municipal People’s Procuracy and the A Viet Inspection JSC.

Appreciating the assistance, President of the committee Dang Thi Kim Lien said the money will be swiftly delivered to the frontline units of the COVID-19 combat.

She noted in response to the VFF Central Committee’s appeal to all Vietnamese people to support the disease prevention and control, many agencies, organisations, businesses and individuals have joined hands with the city’s authorities in the work.

So far, more than 4.6 billion VND, 1,000 antibacterial face masks, 10 tonnes of rice and 100 bottles of hand sanitiser, among others, have been donated via the municipal VFF Committee.

The same day, a delegation of the Hanoi Red Cross Society and philanthropists visited and presented aid to the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases No. 2 in Kim Chung commune of Hanoi’s Dong Anh district and the quarantine site at the FPT University’s dormitory in the city’s Thach That district.

They supported the forces working at each site with one tonne of rice, 1,000 face shields, 1,000 food containing boxes, and 50 million VND in cash./.

In order not to interrupt education and training due to Covid-19 outbreak, many universities in Vietnam have proactively implemented e-learning methods.

Despite many difficulties and challenges, this is an opportunity for Vietnamese universities to test methods and new subjects for training, optimise resources and improve their capacity and quality to accelerate their integration with the world’s higher education systems.  How Vietnamese higher education institutions are operating amidst the Covid-19 outbreak?  In order to avoid the interruption of training and education amidst Covid-19 outbreak, many higher education institutions have proactively instigated e-learning. Accordingly, they have invested in online training systems; purchased or transfered the LMS (Learning Management System) and learning content management system (LCMS); trained lecturers; and digitalised learning materials. Several institutions have witnessed a high consensus of lecturers for the e-learning method, including Hanoi Open University, Ho Chi Minh City Open University, the University of Science under Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, Duy Tan University, FPT University and Hanoi National University of Education The higher education institutions have outlined that this is an opportunity for them to boost the digitalisation of learning materials so that all lecturers, students and management officials can take advantage of positive factors in the application of information and technology in management, teaching and learning activities, making the time and space for teaching and learning more flexible. E-learning is still a method to cope with the epidemic and it is relatively new to the majority of higher education institutions. How can we visualise the overall picture of e-learning in the universities? According to a quick report on e-learning, by early April, there are in total 98 higher education institutions deploying online teaching. The overall picture of e-learning in Vietnamese institutions can be divided into three groups: The first includes universities that have much experience in distance and e-learning as they focused on this training method early. They developed the LMS and LCMS as well as provided full learning content, managed the learning and the progress of learners, and instigated methods to accurately and objectively examine and evaluate learning results thanks to IT advances. However, there are only a few institutions in this group, such as Hanoi Open University and Ho Chi Minh City Open University. The second group consists of universities which have not yet had LMS but began to apply software to support online teaching and learning in real time. For example, where lecturers teach via many applications such as Zoom, Google Hangouts Meet, Webex and Microsoft Teams. Meanwhile, the last group contains institutions who have not conducted e-learning for regular students. They have only provided their students with documents for self-study. It can be seen that e-learning is not unheard of in Vietnam. In fact, many higher education institutions have paid much attention to developing infrastructure and software, training human resources, preparing electronic textbooks and learning materials. Some realised that investment in IT infrastructure system, the LMS, and the LCMS and the digitalisation of learning materials, which aim to support traditional way of training, would only diversify training methods and subjects and eliminate geographical distance and optimise resources, improve tuniversities’ capacity and quality, and accelerate their integration into the world’s higher education systems. What difficulties do universities face when they organise e-learning activities? The common difficulty that the higher education institutions are facing is that the infrastructure and equipment are not complete and synchronous. They lack appropriate learning materials as well as management experience and appropriate management processes for online training. Meanwhile, students and instructors need to have more time to adapt to technology and new methods. The students’ ability to learn, read documents and acquire knowledge by themselves via the internet is limited. In addition, the effectiveness of the e-learning method is not very high for content that requires interaction between teachers and learners. It is also difficult for teachers to conduct examinations. How will the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) support higher education institutions remove difficulties? In order to support and create conditions for higher education institutions to overcome difficulties in deploying e-learning, the MoET and the Ministry of Information and Communication (MoIC) have coordinated with each other to seek solutions. Accordingly, the MoET has signed agreements to receive support from four major telecommunications enterprises. Specifically, Viettel and VNPT will provide institutions with free infrastructure and technologies, including servers with enough bandwidth to ensure smooth teaching and learning activities. Viettel, VNPT, Vietnamobile and Mobifone will provide free mobile data for students, teachers and parents when using e-learning methods announced by the MoIC and MoET during the epidemic’s outbreak. All universities in need of being provided with infrastructure and solutions for e-learning can contact directly the above businesses. With the participation of the major telecommunications corporations, higher education will make positive changes in the near future. Accordingly, many institutions will rapidly deploy e-learning methods or combine both traditional and online ways of training. Vietnam’s higher education will have the opportunity to boost digitalisation, towards keeping pace with world training trends. How will the quality of e-learning be evaluated and controlled? E-learning can be considered as a temporary measure at this time to prevent the spread of the epidemic. At the moment, we do not set strict standards. However, universities should be responsible for providing explanations about their conditions to ensure quality of training and the output quality of the online modules. The MoET also issued Official Letter No.795/BGDDT-GDDH, instructing institutions to select appropriate modules for online training. How does the MoET orient distance and e-learning? With the guidance of the Party and Government leaders, the Covid-19 epidemic will be soon controlled. After the epidemic is controlled, universities will pay more attention to the application of advanced technologies in the management and organisation of training activities, contributing to boosting the building of a learning society. The MoET will continue to build a legal framework to enhance e-learning and the development of open learning materials. The Ministry will continue to advise the Prime Minister on promoting IT applications in teaching and learning, developing distance learning and building a learning society.