Air pollution is a global public health crisis, and air pollution levels in India are among the highest in the world, posing a heavy threat to the country’s health and economy. According to the 2019 World Air Quality Report, India is home to 21 of the 30 most polluted cities in the world. In these cities, air quality can be as much as 10 times over the safe limits of air pollution recommended by the WHO.

Why is air pollution such a significant issue?

Loss of life

According to the State of Global Air 2020 report, air pollution was the fourth leading risk factor for early death worldwide in 2019, and is estimated to have caused 1.7 million premature deaths in India in that year. The burden of disease due to air pollution is higher in low- and middle-income countries, causing about 91 percent of premature deaths.

Economic losses

While the hazardous impact of air pollution on health is well recognised, its negative economic impact is less investigated. Lost output from premature deaths and morbidity attributable to air pollution accounted for economic losses of USD 28.8 billion and 8 billion respectively in 2019. In India, economic losses from air pollution were equivalent to 1.36 percent of the country’s GDP.

Why are children at higher risk?

According to a WHO report, every day around 93 percent of the world’s children under the age of 15 years breathe air so polluted that it puts their health and development in serious danger. Children are at greater risk than adults from the many adverse health effects of air pollution owing to a combination of behavioural, environmental, and physiological factors. Some key reasons for this higher risk include:

1. Children are more susceptible because their lungs, brain, and immune system are still developing and their respiratory tract is more permeable.
2. Children breathe more air per kilogram of body weight, so their exposure to air pollution is much greater than adults. The consequences of their exposure—through inhalation, ingestion, or in utero—can lead to illness and other lifetime health burdens.

 

What are the effects of air pollution on children’s health and development?

Air pollution is one of the leading threats to child health, globally accounting for almost one in 10 deaths in children under five years of age. Around 8.8 percent of deaths in children under the age of five in India in 2017 can be attributed to air pollution, according to a Lancet study. Some of the effects on children’s health and development include:

1. Serious respiratory illnesses

Air pollution causes more than 50 percent of acute lower respiratory infections in children under five years of age in low- and middle-income countries. It can lead to asthma, childhood cancers, chronic diseases, poor lung function, pneumonia, and other types of acute lower respiratory infection.

This study from Delhi observed a statistically significant positive association between air pollution (PM10 level) and the prevalence of lower respiratory tract symptoms. These symptoms were more prevalent in girls than in boys. Every third child in Delhi has impaired lungs due to the high level of pollutants that are present in the city’s air.

2.  Premature births, infant deaths, and a negative impact on child growth 

Pregnant women exposed to polluted air are more likely to give birth prematurely and have small, low birth-weight children. A recent study from India revealed a negative impact of exposure to air pollution during the first trimester of pregnancy on child growth indicators.

Air pollution contributed to nearly 5,00,000 infant deaths worldwide in 2019. In India, a fifth of neonatal deaths from all causes can be attributed to air pollution.

This Lancet study indicates a plausible link between air pollution and stunting in children.

3. Negative impacts on children’s neurodevelopment

Prolonged exposure to polluted air negatively impacts neurodevelopment in children. According to the WHO, new research has shown an association between prenatal exposure to high levels of air pollution and developmental delay at age three, as well as psychological and behavioural problems later on, including symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, and depression. Air pollution affects children’s learning process by exacerbating respiratory illnesses, fatigue, school absenteeism, and attention problems.

 

What is the way forward?

India has taken the following steps at the central and state levels to control pollution and improve air quality:

1. National Clean Air Programme

Government of India’s National Clean Air Programme is a powerful step in acknowledging and resolving the problem of deteriorating air quality. It is a national-level strategy to tackle the country’s air pollution challenge, calling for a 20–30 percent reduction in particulate matter pollution by 2024.

2. Performance-based funds transfers to cities

In 2020, the central government allocated approximately USD 1.7 billion to fight air pollution in 42 Indian cities that have a population of more than one million. This is conditional on these cities reducing their air pollution levels by 15 percent every year. It is the world’s first performance-based fiscal transfer funding programme for air quality management in cities.

3. Coordinated action to improve air quality

Parliament approved a law in August 2021 to establish the Commission of Air Quality Management for better coordination, research, identification, and resolution of problems related to air quality in the National Capital Region and adjoining areas.

However, much more needs to be done. The air pollution challenge in India is inherently multisectoral. Policies and investments supporting cleaner transport, power generation and industry; energy-efficient homes, and better municipal waste management will reduce key sources of outdoor air pollution. Experiences in tackling air pollution in cities suggest three possible ways forward:

1. Disseminating information about the problem and health risks.
2. Providing incentives to cities/states and other stakeholders for tackling air pollution.
3. Building institutions that support air quality management. This requires sufficient funding and a sustained focus on capacity building.

The right combination of political will, appropriate implementation, and a strong compliance mechanism from both government and the private sector are required to move forward. Given Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent announcement that India aims to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2070, the time to act is now.

                                    President Nguyen Xuan Phuc (L) and Joseph Vu Van Thien

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc visited and presented gifts to the Hanoi Archdiocese and the Committee for Solidarity of Vietnamese Catholics (CSVC) in the capital city on December 23, on the occasion of the upcoming Christmas season.


The President wished Joseph Vu Van Thien, Archbishop of the Hanoi Archdiocese and Deputy Secretary General of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Vietnam, Catholic dignitaries and followers a warm and happy Christmas season.

He spoke highly of contributions of the Catholic community nationwide, including the Hanoi Archdiocese, to the country’s socio-economic, national defence-security and global integration achievements over the past years amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Vietnamese Party and State always ensure citizens’ right to freedom of belief via the Constitution and law, he said, believing that in his role, Joseph Vu Van Thien will continue encouraging Catholics to build a strong archdiocese, contributing to socio-economic development of the country and Hanoi in particular.

Joseph Vu Van Thien expressed his hope that in the near future, the country’s position and stature will further improve on international arena.
At CSVC in the morning the same day, Phuc wished that the CSVC would continue disseminating the Party guidelines and State laws among Catholics.

Priest Joseph Tran Xuan Manh, who is also part-time Vice President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee and Chairman of the CSVC Central Committee, wished to receive further support from authorities at all levels so that the CSVC could work more effectively./.

 

                 Blind Vietnamese people

The Vietnam Blind Association on December 23 held a workshop collecting ideas to serve the supplementation and adjustment of policies and laws on health and education for people with disabilities (PWDs).

The event is part of a project on raising legal awareness and aid on labour, employment, enforcement of administrative procedures in health and education for PWDs funded by the European Union through the Justice Initiatives Facilitation Fund (JIFF) whose governing body is the Ministry of Justice.

Speaking at the seminar, Deputy Chief of Office of the Vietnam National Committee for People with Disabilities Dinh Thi Thuy affirmed that both health and education play an important role in the lives of disabled people; therefore, policies on these two areas will have direct effects on them.

However, there are still regulations that do not suit reality, she noted, adding that the results of the workshop will help complete the proposal to amend and supplement the Law on People with Disabilities as well as several policies on education and health care for them in the time to come.

Ta Ngoc Tri, deputy head of the Ministry of Education and Training’s steering committee on education for children with disabilities and those living in difficulties, said that society's awareness about education for PWDs has changed in a positive direction, thus helping them feel more confident.

He proposed devising a new concept on PWDs, having a representative of the Ministry of Education and Training in the council of determining the disability level, and considering allowances and benefits for disabled students to meet their actual needs.

The Vietnam Blind Association suggested issuing a policy on supporting health insurance for people with mild disabilities to help them access better health care, while health insurance for people with severe and especially severe disabilities should cover more high-tech treatment and functional rehabilitation equipment.

It also proposed adjusting or removing the age limit for entering school for people with disabilities, and expanding education forms for them./.

 

 Religious activities on social networks have become increasingly diverse amid the Fourth Industrial Revolution. However, apart from proper practices, some individuals and organisations have taken advantage of the internet to carry out illegal activities, which requires state agencies to take countermeasures.

About 95 percent of Vietnam’s population engage in religious or belief-related practices. Sixteen religions with 43 relevant organisations have been recognised and licensed by the State. They gather over 27 million followers (about 28 percent of the population) and have nearly 30,000 places of worship.

Amid the strong development of the “digital life”, religious activities on the cyberspace are a sensitive issue that reactionary and sabotage forces have continually taken advantage of to drive a wedge in the great national unity and between the Party and the people.

Many activities on the internet have made use of religions or beliefs to distort the doctrines of orthodox religions and propagandise heresies and information running counter to good traditional customs. Such activities involve not only people living in the country but also those abroad, including hostile and reactionary elements as well as saboteurs.

By creating the crowd effect or scandals to attract public attention, they have spread misinformation about orthodox religions, driven a wedge to the national solidarity, and defamed the Party, the State, and the religious policy of Vietnam. In particular, they have frequently fabricated allegation on the administration’s discrimination against and suppression of religions so as to sow divisions in Vietnam and undermine the country’s prestige in the international arena. They have also colluded with some foreign individuals and organisations to slander the freedom of religion in Vietnam.

Suggesting some solutions to improve the management of religious and belief-related activities on cyberspace, Dr Bui Van Huan from the School of Politics of Bac Giang province said first of all, it is necessary to increase communications in appropriate forms to help users of social networks realise the plots and ruses used by hostile forces and not follow heresies or take part in illegal religious organisations. Religious dignitaries should play a more active role in fighting the abuse of religions and beliefs to disseminate wrongful viewpoints and information.

Second, state agencies should step up fine-tuning legal documents on religious and belief-related activities on cyberspace and effectively enforcing them.

Third, it is important to actively prevent and effectively deal with illegal religious activities on the internet while increasing measures to prevent plots and actions abusing religions or beliefs to sabotage the Party, State, and regime or taking advantage of the freedom of speech to sow divisions on the internet.

Fourth, it is also necessary to bring into play the role of the Episcopal Council of Vietnam and the Executive Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha to rectify wrong practices on cyberspace; maintain dialogue about the Catholic situation in Vietnam with the Holy See; keep regular contact with the US Ambassador and the Ambassador and head of the EU Delegation to Vietnam to exchange information about the enforcement of laws on religions and beliefs in the country; and provide official information to serve the combat against hostile forces slandering the democracy, human rights, and religious freedom in Vietnam, according to Huan./.

 

 

A national strategy on clean water supply and sanitation in rural areas by 2030 with a vision to 2045 was announced on December 22 by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Vietnam.

The main objective of the strategy is that by 2030, 65 percent of the population will have access to clean water that meets the standards set by the Ministry of Health; and 100 percent of households, schools and health stations have basic toilets.

By 2045, 100 percent of people will gain access to clean water and safe and sustainable sanitation; and 50 percent of rural residential areas will have domestic wastewater collection systems.

After 10 years of implementing the national strategy on clean water supply and sanitation in rural areas by 2020, at present, 88.5 percent of residents in rural areas use hygienic clean water, of whom 51 percent gain access to clean water that meets the standards set by the Ministry of Health; and 75 percent of rural households have basic toilets.

The effective implementation of this strategy has helped improve rural residents’ living conditions and boost socio-economic development, and helped many localities achieve the goal of new-style rural area building.

Rana Flowers, UNICEF Representative in Vietnam, said that clean water and rural sanitation are the core issues for developing smart human resources, thereby promoting labour productivity and economic growth. Access to clean water and good sanitation means that people are protected well against the risk of diseases.

Vietnam has made great strides in improving rural water and sanitation, she said./.

 

Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam on behalf of the Prime Minister has signed a directive strengthening a scheme integrating human rights content into the national education system.

The directive states that human rights education plays an important role in raising social awareness, helping prevent and limit human rights violations.

Following a decision by the Prime Minister on September 5, 2017, the Hồ Chí Minh National Academy of Politics (HCMA) has coordinated with ministries and agencies on several related tasks assigned by the Government leader.

The initial results of the scheme have contributed to raising social awareness about the importance of human rights education, especially for staff, managers, teachers and students in educational and training institutions in the national education system.

In order to promote human rights education, the Prime Minister requested ministries, sectors and People's Committees to intensify the implementation of the scheme.

The HCMA will accelerate the compilation, promotion and publication of reference materials on human rights education; assist education, training and vocational education institutions nationwide in perfecting their educational material; and provide more training for leaders and managers across the board.

The Prime Minister also requested the People’s Committees of provinces and cities to speed up implementation of the scheme, including equipping local teachers and educational managers with knowledge on human rights./.

 The end of this year has revealed the fragility of food systems when faced with sudden disruptions such as those observed during the COVID-19 pandemic. These disruptions have increased the number of people with limited or no access to food in the world. Today, more than 811 million people suffer from hunger, according to recent studies.

The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) 2021 report, published in November by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) states that three billion people cannot afford healthy diets, and another billion could soon join these ranks if the crisis of the pandemic reduces their income by a third.

According to current projections, if an alteration in the transport routes of food products continues as it has been since the start of the pandemic, the cost of food could suffer an increase. This increase would greatly affect 845 million people.

These disruptions would impact on long-term trends in the food system, the welfare of people, their assets, their livelihoods and security, the ability to withstand future disarrays caused by extreme weather events and the heightening of diseases and pests in plants and animals.

Resilience in agrifood systems by governments should be one of the main strategies to respond to current and future challenges, seeking to diversify sources of inputs, production, markets, supply chain and actors, supporting the creation of small and medium-sized companies, cooperatives, consortiums and other groups to maintain diversity in the agrifood value chains

Prior to the pandemic, difficulties in meeting the international community’s commitments and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, especially the eradication of hunger and poverty, were already present. The effects of COVID-19, coupled with climate change, armed conflict and rising food prices, could continue to exacerbate these difficulties.

Global agrifood systems, related to the complex production of agricultural food and non-food products, as well as their storage, processing, transportation, distribution and consumption, produce 11 billion tons of food annually and employ billions of people, either directly or indirectly.

The recent FAO report analyzes whether low-income countries face greater difficulties as a result of impacts of the pandemic than middle-to high-income countries. After analyzing this specific situation in more than 100 countries, the report confirms the trend that low-income countries face greater difficulties; however, middle- and high-income countries are not excluded from these impacts.

Such is the case of middle-income countries like Brazil, where 60% of the value of their exports comes from a single trading partner, which reduces their options if their main counterpart is affected by the disruptions generated by COVID-19.

The same can happen in high-income countries, such as Canada or Australia, if they are exposed to transportation variants due to the long distances required to cover food distribution.

According to recent expert studies, reducing essential connections in the distribution network could cause local transport time to increase by 20% or more, thus increasing food costs and prices for consumers.

Resilience in agrifood systems by governments should be one of the main strategies to respond to current and future challenges, seeking to diversify sources of inputs, production, markets, supply chain and actors, supporting the creation of small and medium-sized companies, cooperatives, consortiums and other groups to maintain diversity in the agrifood value chains.

In addition, the resilience of vulnerable households should be improved to ensure a world without hunger, through greater access to assets, diversified sources of income and social protection programs in the event of a crisis.

Today, family farms represent 90% of all farms in the world. FAO established a technical platform for family farming with the aim of fostering innovation and the exchange of information between regions.

According to the Director-General of FAO, QU Dongyu, when resources and knowledge are shared “innovation is accelerated”, and while “this platform will allow us to think big, it will also facilitate the adoption of concrete measures” which will in turn allow for the conservation of biodiversity. This represents the first step towards rural transformation.

The relationship between agricultural nutrition and climate change is another outstanding component of the shocks that have continued to occur in 2021.

The increase in temperatures and the growing impact of radical atmospheric effects are exponentially affecting agriculture, causing an increase in the prices of raw materials as recorded by recent trends, and consequently aggravating the conditions of hunger and malnutrition.

If this trend continues, by 2050 agrifood production will decline by around 10%, at a time when there would be a strong increase in the world population.

There are also opportunities to reverse these trends related to agriculture, food and the environment, but in order for this to happen, greater investments is needed in this sector.

From precision agriculture and early warning systems, to improving the use of food waste and converting it into clean energy, to using water more efficiently, many practices are already being carried out in different countries. These solutions offer a sense of hope and show that we can reverse the present negative trends. When reflecting on the difficulties of the past year, we should continue to work towards finding concrete solutions instead of just pointing out the difficulties that the future of the agrifood industry faces.

 After the success of the August Revolution of 1945, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam - the first democratic state in Southeast Asia was established, opening up a new era of independence, freedom, and happiness for our people. However, our people’s peace didn’t exist for long as French colonialists came back to invade our country again with their allied imperial nations’ support. They unilaterally nullified all agreements, including the Preliminary Agreement, dated March 6th, 1946 and the Provisional Agreement, dated September 14th, 1946, while increasing their military activities to sabotage our country’s peace.

With our nation’s humanistic tradition and burning desire for peace, our Party and President Ho Chi Minh expressed goodwill and appeasement as much as possible to avoid further bloodshed and spare more time for national construction. “But the more we make concessions, the more the French colonialists encroach on us because they want to take over our country again.” At that crucial moment of the nation, on the evening of December 19th, 1946, President Ho Chi Minh issued the Appeal for National Resistance. As a proclamation of the nation, the Appeal is our people and country’s shining symbol of patriotism, unity, indomitable will, and spirit of “sacrificing for the Homeland” in Ho Chi Minh era.

Patriotism is a valuable tradition of our people and they all clearly understand the significance of independence and freedom and the price to gain independence and freedom. Therefore, our people have never bent the knee to ferocious enemies; they have always been determined to “mobilise all their physical and mental strength and sacrifice their lives and property” and even “their last drop of blood” to safeguard independence as evidenced by the Appeal for National Resistance and the Declaration of Independence on September 2nd, 1945.

The Appeal for National Resistance by President Ho Chi Minh

In response to President Ho Chi Minh’s Appeal, troops and citizens of our capital city and localities across the country rose up as one against the French invasion. The strength of the all-people unity against enemies once again flared up in the early days of national resistance. That laid a foundation for our military and people to conduct an all-people, comprehensive, prolonged, self-dependent resistance war, implement the Party’s guidelines on both national resistance and construction, make up the victory of Dien Bien Phu that “resounded across five continents, shook the globe,” and ended the resistance war against the French, win the resistance war against the US, gloriously fulfil the struggle for national liberation, and bring our country to a new era of socialism.

National resistance as the first victorious general war expressed our Party and President Ho Chi Minh’s sound, creative guidelines, leadership, and direction; it was typical of the art of mobilising forces and promoting the all-people strength in the Vietnamese people’s warfare.

75 years have elapsed, but the Appeal for National Resistance has always been in each Vietnamese citizen’s mind as a milestone in the heroic national history. That event of both historic and epochal significance has provided us with a lot of valuable lessons for today’s Homeland construction and protection.

In the upcoming time, although peace, cooperation, and development will still be the mainstream, the situation in the world and the region will have rapid, complex developments together with unpredictable detriments to stability. COVID-19 will be complicated with new variants and negatively impact on socio-economic development of many countries worldwide. As for our country, in addition to difficulties and challenges caused by the pandemic, hostile forces will enhance their “peaceful evolution” strategy and encourage “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” from within. Destabilising factors in East Sea will continue to be increased and there may be new changes. Our people’s national construction and protection cause has new development and new higher, more complex requirements.

Therefore, the entire Party, military, and people should grasp Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress, remain steadfast in the goal of national independence and socialism, bring into play political resolve, and synchronously, comprehensively step up national renewal for the sake of “wealthy people, strong nation, democracy, equality, and civilisation.”

In the short term, emphasis should be placed on repelling the COVID-19 pandemic and fostering socio-economic development as the “dual goal.” In this regard, socio-economic development must play a central role, the Party building must act as a key step, culture must serve as the society’s spiritual foundation, and defence-security consolidation must be seen as a crucial, routine mission.

The Party’s leadership plays a decisive role in all victories of the Vietnamese revolution. Hence, we must continue making the Party strong in terms of politics, ideology, morality, organisation, and personnel, improving the Party’s leading and ruling capacity, and building a comprehensively strong, pure political system and a compact, efficient State. In addition, it is necessary to bring into play the synergy of the whole nation combined with the strength of the times, actively, proactively integrate Vietnam into the world, and raise the effectiveness of international cooperation for the country’s rapid, sustainable development.

To meet the requirements set by the Homeland protection, we must keep grasping the Party’s viewpoints on resolutely, persistently fighting to safeguard national independence, sovereignty, unification, and territorial integrity, protect the Party, the State, the people, and the socialist regime, maintain a peaceful environment, proactively prevent risks of war and conflict from afar, and foil the hostile forces’ plots and artifices. Besides, great importance should be attached to building a revolutionary, regular, elite, gradually modern Vietnam People’s Army (VPA), with a number of services, corps, and forces moving straight to modernity as the basis for building a revolutionary, regular, elite, modern VPA capable of playing a core role in firmly protecting the Homeland in any situation.

The 75th Anniversary of the National Resistance Day (December 19th, 1946 - December 19th, 2021) gives us a chance to reaffirm this event’s historical and epochal significance. Lessons learnt from the Appeal for National Resistance remain valid forever and have been continuously applied to fuel our Party, VPA, and people’s national renewal, construction, and protection in the new period.