News Center

Ho Van Cat on his piece of land which is now ready for cultivation.

The historic floods and landslides have massively devastated numerous areas in Quang Tri province, in particular Huong Hoa district. Amidst the loss of livelihood, thousands of people are looking for the light of hope…

After the devastating flooding and landslide in November, Mr. Ho Van Cat, resident of Ma Lai Pun hamlet, Huong Phung commune (Huong Hoa district, Quang Tri province) is embarking on a new challenging journey of post disaster relief.

 “For the last three days, I have been so excited that I cannot sleep!” Ho Van Cat says while rubbing his two hands against each other.

Standing on his 0.35 hectare piece of land, which just has been leveled and divided into five parts, Cat’s face glows with blissfulness. Under the sun, his eyes glistens like a child who has got the gift of his dream from Santa Claus.

Seeing his smile today, it is hard to imagine how frustrated Cat was two weeks back.

“If no one reached out a hand to us, we would not survive!”, he sadly said.

Located by a stream, the paddy field, the only livelihood of Cat’s family was deeply buried under huge layers of soil and rocks carried down by landslides.

The only crop of the family normally starts in December, and they would not be to access to farming land without the support of bulldozer. Nothing to be sowed, nothing to be reaped. The future of the family of eight, including five children, would be haunted by hunger.

Luckily, Cat’s family were not alone as they are one of the first four poor households in the hamlet receiving the support from MCNV and local authorities.

With the financial support of EUR 10,000 from Dutch donors via MCNV, tonnes of earth and rocks have been removed, making 03 hectare of agricultural land accessible to the affected owners.

The post disaster relief work will take time and MCNV is trying our best to make sure that those flood victims are not alone in their new struggle.

• The damage caused by floods and landslide in October and November occurred on a large scale in Quang Tri province. leaving 58 death and missing.
• Thousands of cattle and poultry were killed/washed away, thousands hectares of crop were destructed. Hundreds of hectares of rice plantation and 5.8 ha of agricultural land were inundated.

(Tung Nguyen, MCNV Program Coordinator)

On December 21, MCNV was conferred with the Merit of Recognition for the Contribution to Poverty reduction and Sustainable development by the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO).

On December 21 an event to recognize the contributions of NGOs to poverty reduction and sustainable development of Vietnam was held in Hanoi by VUFO.

MCNV was honored to be one of 50 NGOs being conferred this Merit of Certificate 2020; summarized and evaluated the achieved results and proposed directions to cooperate with foreign NGOs in the coming time.

Speaking at the ceremony, VUFO President Nguyen Phuong Nga, foreign NGOs, emphasized the contribution of foreign NGOs in Vietnam. She noted the timely support of NGOs for Vietnam during adversity, especially the battle against COVID-19, response to climate change and post disaster recovery in the Central region.

In 2020, the total value of foreign NGOs aid for Vietnam is estimated at USD 250 million, of which nearly USD 9 million was for post disaster reliefs and USD 6.5 million for COVID-19 prevention and control./.

To contribute to filling the gaps of OT workforce and services at both provincial and district levels,  MCNV has been cooperated with Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy (UMP) to provide a  12-month course on Occupational Therapy (OT) in which Hue UMP sent to this training course two participants who are teachers working at Rehabilitation Department (called OT practitioners hereafter).

The training course will end in December 2020. As planned, in the future Hue UMP  will organize Continuing Medical Education (CME) course focusing on OT practice for some  common heath conditions.

MCNV  is hence looking for an international OT consultant to provide 7-month coaching on OT clinical practice for the 2 OT practitioners at Hue UMP Hospital.

For more information, please go to the Terms of Reference below:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mADog2TS13hylXUvRLzVIYo9ilsvCcDR/view?usp=sharing

To contribute to filling the gaps of rehabilitation service and system at both provincial and district levels, MCNV has been implementing I-Thrive Project in Thua Thien Hue and Quang Nam Provinces. Within this project, MCNV support Da Nang University of Medical Technology and Pharmacy to provide a 12-month course on Speech and Language Therapy (SALT).

For each province, MCNV is looking for a volunteer to provide coaching on SALT clinical practice for health staffs who finish this training course (called SALT practitioners hereafter) in daily working in the targeted health facilities after completing the SALT training course.

A CV detailing professional experience, relevant qualifications should be provided to thuy.tranthu@mcnv.vn by December 25, 2020.

Please refer to the ToR below for more details

Volunteer in Quang Nam: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15Y-8jO9I-w6rKDQYCQD2-8pjEKoufI1m/view?usp=sharing

Volunteer in Thua Thien Hue: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JVxVFSbi-JEkM8SzvBOoRdS3XP3RdL3z/view?usp=sharing

To contribute to filling the gaps of rehabilitation services and system at both provincial and district levels, MCNV has been implementing I-Thrive Project in Thua Thien Hue and Quang Nam Provinces.
Within this project, MCNV support Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy (UMP) to provide a 12-month course on Occupational Therapy (OT).

MCNV is looking for a volunteer to provide coaching on Occupational Therapy (OT) clinical practice for health staffs in daily working in their hospitals after completing the 12-month course.

For more information, please find the Terms of Reference (ToRs) below:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HlBvQ1ed5Vc74ajTAr-3g53xkdZATD21/view?usp=sharing

An orientation conference for freshmen was held on November 7, 2020 by the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Technology, HCMC University of Medicine and Pharmacy (UMP).

The event aims to facilitate students in making the optimal choice of major for their coming learning journey and career. Currently, the Faculty is offering two majors: Physical Therapy (PT) and Occupational Therapy (OT).

This year, the Faculty welcomes 95 new students who have just got admitted for the Bachelor program period 2020-2024.

The conference has provided the freshmen relevant information and understanding on the role of Rehabilitation in the healthcare system, the scope of works, its clients and career opportunity. The information was brought to the students by experienced lecturers of UMP and specialists in Rehabilitation.

Remarkably, a group representing the first batch of OT Bachelors was invited to the event to share more insight of the OT with the freshmen. The sharing has given the first year students the confidence to make their choice of major, of which many have decided to choose OT.

MCNV and UMP hope that more students will register for OT, a very promising profession but still facing shortage of manpower in Vietnam.