Ninh Binh (VNA) – A plan on supportfor persons with disabilities (PWDs) between 2012 and 2020 (Plan 1019) hasgained certain encouraging outcomes, helping to improve the group’s livingstandards and access to equal opportunities, heard a recent conference in NinhBinh province.

Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and SocialAffairs Le Tan Dung, who is also vice chairman of the national committee forPWDs, said Plan 1019, a major programme showing the Party and State’s attentionto the disabled, has helped raise sectors and authorities’ awareness of andsense of responsibility towards PWDs, improve the group’s material andspiritual lives, and remove social barriers, thus creating equal chances forthem to access basic social services, tap into their ability, and integrateinto society.

Chairman of the Vietnam Social Security Fund TaViet Anh noted outcomes in the early detection, early intervention, orthopaedicsurgery, and provision of supporting tools for PWDs between 2012 and 2020.

Each year, there are about 90 percent ofpregnant women receiving prenatal disability screenings, 60 percent of childrenunder 6 accessing postnatal screenings, and about 2,000 orthopaedic andsupporting tools supplied for PWDs.

Over the last eight years, the Ministry ofEducation and Training has promoted inclusive education and carried outpriority policies for disabled students as well as teachers engaged ininclusive education.

The number of students with disabilities goingto school has increased 10-fold compared to the 2000-2010 period with improvedquality. About 2,000-2,500 teachers have received training in inclusiveeducation every year while 1,500 free braille boards and books been given todisabled students.

During the period, 17,000-20,000 PWDs received vocationaltraining, 20,000 got job suggestions, and over 38,500 got loans from thenational employment fund each year. Nearly 28,800 PWDs with financial problemswere provided with legal assistance, and 400,000-500,000 families of PWDs anddisabled persons received training in caring for PWDs, statistics show.

The plan on support for PWDs for 2021-2030 isset to remain in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of PWDs, the UN 2030Agenda for Sustainable Development, and relevant commitments of ASEAN. It willpush ahead with programmes on assisting PWDs and encourage them to overcomedifficulties, integrate into society, contribute to socio-economic development,and help their peers.

There are about 6.2 million PWDs in Vietnam atpresent, accounting for 7.06 percent of the population aged 2 and above. About58 percent of them are female, and 28.3 percent are children./.