Humanitarian activities must be practical: President

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc met with leaders of the Vietnam Red Cross Society (VRC) Central Committee on April 5 to launch the country’s Humanitarian Month 2022.

The society reported to the State leader that over the last four years, the Humanitarian Month, which is held annually in May, has raised over 1.5 trillion VND (65.57 million USD) to support 3.3 million people.

This year, the month will be themed “Connecting the Community- Spreading Humanitarian Actions”, with activities that focus on supporting the community and recommending mechanisms and policies regarding humanitarian activities.

A project to assist fishermen will also be started, aiming to benefit nearly 1,250 households living on floating houses in coastal and island localities, and 291 poor coastal communes, whilst an additional programme will help one million children escape malnutrition.

Addressing the session, President Phuc underlined that specific plans were needed to implement these programmes, contributing to speeding up poverty reduction amid COVID-19.

The VRC should strengthen communications to encourage society to join hands in supporting the needy and following the humanitarian ideals of President Ho Chi Minh, he said.

The State leader also stressed the need for the VRC to strengthen international cooperation and people-to-people exchanges with the region and the world to make full use of support and resources from outside, as well as to display Vietnam’s commitment to international humanitarian activities.