AAA launches global health insurance By Ngoc Hung - The Saigon Times Daily HCMC - AAA Insurance Joint Stock Co. has cooperated with International Medical Group (IMG) to launch global medical insurance service in Vietnam with the coverage of up to US$8 million per person. The product is available in silver, gold, and platinum packages to offer a variety of choices for families and individuals, said AAA general director Do Thi Kim Lien. Customers will be protected 24/24 hours a day and entitled to choose any doctors and hospitals in the world. Established in 2005 with the chartered capital of VND80 billion, AAA has expanded a network of agents throughout the country. Meanwhile, IMG is the leading corporation in the global medical insurance industry with representative offices in 170 nations. … [Read more...] about AAA launches global health insurance
Health
To your health: The importance of play
Viet Nam News By Douglas Holwerda* Five- to eight-year-old children in my neighborhood often play in the streets. Their voices are musical, punctuated with shrieks and laughter. I don't know what they say to each other. But the exchanges result in someone rushing off with others giving chase. Their imaginations are alive in the ways they move: never walking… full of skips, hops, twirls and spins… running, chasing, ducking and hiding. They can play for hours, without interruption. Their play is as natural as the wind and the sun. They use sticks they find as props and toys and the bike gets traded around. The falling darkness sets the mood for new adventures before they are called in. Maybe we all played like this as kids: games without rules -- our identities changing with our imaginary dramas. There is spontaneity in this kind of play, a readiness for anything. It is also full of passion, emotions rising and falling, conflicts and resolutions alternating in a matter of minutes. I … [Read more...] about To your health: The importance of play
UN project improves youth reproductive health in Quang Binh
Positive changes in youth access to reproductive and sexual health services have been recorded in the central province of Quang Binh thanks to a project sponsored by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Beneficiaries are adolescents in Tuyen Hoa, Bo Trach, Le Thuy districts and Dong Hoi city. After nearly two years of implementation from 2015 to 2016, the project has built inclusive intervention models on reproductive and sexual health, and contraception for youngsters. It also helped enhance the management and inspection capacity of population and family planning projects as well as the provision of information and services in the field. To maintain the outcomes of the project, Permanent Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Xuan Quang requested expanding the number of beneficiaries in the locality. According to the UNFPA, about 79 percent of the 23 million Vietnamese women aged between 14 and 49 use some forms of contraception. However, more than … [Read more...] about UN project improves youth reproductive health in Quang Binh
VN to focus on youth’s sexual reproductive health
Viet Nam News HÀ NỘI - Investing in the education and health, including sexual and reproductive health, of young people is of utmost importance to Việt Nam's productivity and development in the future, Nguyễn Anh Tuấn, secretary of the HCM Communist Youth Union Central Committee, has said. Speaking at a workshop on the implementation of "Youth led initiatives on promoting access to sexual and reproductive health information and services for Vietnamese youth and adolescents" held this morning, Tuấn said the youth played a significant role in the country's growth and they represented an increasingly large proportion of the labour force. "However, young people still lacked vital knowledge and life-skills on safe sex and consensual relationships, facing considerable barriers to accessing sexual and reproductive health services," Tuấn said. Sexual education for young people remained limited, particularly for ethnic minorities, migrants or those living in rural areas, he said. Young … [Read more...] about VN to focus on youth’s sexual reproductive health
Room for improvement among Vietnamese health care social workers
Healthcare is supposed to be one of social workers’ highest priorities but, in reality, this may not be the case in Vietnam. It may be surprising to learn that social work has been a part of local hospitals for half a century. Dr. Do Hong Ngoc, who is famed for his extensive writing on pediatrics and teenage sex education among other topics, recalled that back in the 1960s, while he was working at Saigon Pediatrics Hospital (now Pediatrics Hospital 1), he saw a number of social workers in pink cloaks offering mental support to patients and their relatives. Now, some 50 years later, he is happy to know that a social group called Happier, which consists of volunteer students, has been operating at the hospital for the past 3 years. Starting with the hospital’s Department of Burn and Orthopedics, the group has now extended their services to its Cardiology Department and Pre-Surgery room. In addition to comforting the kids by chatting, painting, singing and holding events to … [Read more...] about Room for improvement among Vietnamese health care social workers
Health Ministry launches action plan against avian flu
This was announced at a meeting of the National Steering Committee for Bird Flu Prevention and Control in Hanoi on January 13. (VOV) - The Ministry of Health (MoH) has issued an action plan to prevent a strain of avian flu virus H7N9 which is spreading across neighbouring China. Accordingly, relevant agencies will work hand in hand in diagnosing, treating and preventing the deadly virus, while strictly monitoring the epidemic in both poultry and humans. MoH has also established a network to receive, treat and isolate people suspected of having the virus aiming to control the dangerous and emerging infectious disease in central hospitals. Quarantine units in border areas have been urged to strictly monitor people traveling from epidemic-hit regions while using remote body temperature measuring machines to detect patients. Deputy Director of the MoH Preventive Medicine Department Tran Dac predicted there is a high risk of the H7N9 virus entering Vietnam, since the epidemic is … [Read more...] about Health Ministry launches action plan against avian flu
Health ministry discusses avian flu prevention
The Ministry of Health (MoH) recently issued an action plan in preparation for a strain of avian flu virus H7N9 which is spreading across neighbouring China. The information was released at a meeting of the National Steering Committee for Bird Flu Prevention and Control in Hanoi on January 13. Accordingly, relevant agencies are to work closely together in diagnosing, treating and preventing the deadly virus, while strictly monitoring the epidemic in both poultry and humans. MoH has also set up a network to receive, treat and isolate people suspected of having the virus in order to control the dangerous and emerging infectious disease in central hospitals. Health quarantine units in border areas have been urged to strictly monitor people travelling from epidemic-hit regions, while using remote body temperature measuring machines to detect patients. Deputy Director of the MoH Preventive Medicine Department Tran Dac Phu said there is a high risk of the H7N9 virus entering … [Read more...] about Health ministry discusses avian flu prevention
Pungent Ginger Is Healthful
More tips on medicinal properties of ginger Ginger (Zingiber officinale), called gng in Vietnamese, is widely grown throughout the country for its pungent, aromatic rhizomes, which are often used as a spice and a medicinal herb. Recent studies conducted by U.S. scientists show that ginger rhizomes can help relieve pain quickly and relax muscles after strong physical activities. Regular intake of ginger as a spice or greens in daily meals can help heal external injuries and pain caused by playing sports or doing heavy manual jobs. In Vietnam, ginger has long been used as a medicinal herb to raise low blood pressure (hypotension) and treat cold or indigestion effectively. The rhizome is also an efficient and inexpensive drug to fight sneezing: just chew a small piece of fresh, peeled ginger root well and then swallow it; the sneezing will disappears after about two minutes without any side effect (it takes from 90 to 150 minutes for such a bothering symptom to disappear if … [Read more...] about Pungent Ginger Is Healthful
Health Ministry orders seizure, destruction of toxic candy
The Health Ministry’s Food Hygiene and Safety Department March 26 ordered its units nationwide to quickly seize and destroy a new type of lollipop being sold in Vietnam without origin and containing toxic substances. The packaging of the “Fluorescent lollipop” candy contains neither the name nor address of the manufacturer, and does not list an expiry date. The edible portion of the lollipop is attached to a stick that glows, heightening its appeal to children. Test results have showed that the sticks contain Phtalate and Polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), where the former acts as a solvent for the latter, said Dr. Le Thi Hong Hao, deputy head of the National Institute for Testing Food Hygiene and Safety under the Health Ministry. The combination of the two chemicals leads to an oxygenated reaction, creating fluorescent illumination in the stick, said Ms. Hao. PAH is an extremely toxic chemical, usually used only for industrial purposes like diluting paint. It can … [Read more...] about Health Ministry orders seizure, destruction of toxic candy
Sun Wah vows $1m for education, health
An agreement signed between representatives of the diversified conglomerate and the Health Ministry in Ha Noi yesterday will have $700,000 go to health projects - the focus will be public health - and the remaining $300,000 to education and art projects. The sponsor wants the money used to enhance the knowledge of foreign languages among teachers, especially those living in remote and rural Viet Nam. It will also provide scholarships for Vietnamese students to study in China, provide money to build remote schools and organise training courses for teachers and students at schools for the disabled. Sun Wah Fund president Jonathan Choi said it was the second time the conglomerate had provided $1 million to sponsor projects in Viet Nam and he was pleased with the practical results. The previous sponsorship had focused on education and the arts. Sun Wah had decided to add health projects to its list despite its previous inexperience in this field because the conglomerate was … [Read more...] about Sun Wah vows $1m for education, health