During the Month for the Poor from October 17 to November 18, 2017, Vietnamese people will work together to help the poor escape poverty. Between January and September, Ho Chi Minh City received approximately 6.6 million USD from organizations and individuals to help poor households and localities.

Trieu Le Khanh, Vice President of Ho Chi Minh City’s Fatherland Front, said: “We’ll organize a program of compassion on November 23 to honor individuals and organizations for taking care of the poor. We’ll focus on essential needs such as housing, healthcare, information access, and education.”

Kon Tum province’s Fund for the Poor has collected 700,000 USD to build 560 charitable houses and organize other activities for less fortunate people. Poverty reduction is a major policy of the Party and State.

Truong Thi Ngoc Anh, VFF Vice Chairwoman, said: “We have combined poverty reduction programs and national target programs such as housing programs for poor districts. The Front has worked with local administrations to assign members to help each group.”

Vietnam has about 1.9 million poor households and 1.3 million near-poor households, who live mainly in remote, isolated, mountain areas. Vietnam intends to reduce poor households 1-1.5% per year to fulfill its international commitments on sustainable development until 2030.