Proposal

Vietnam has created a policy which  the objective of the policy is to maintain the average of 1 to 2 children per couple in order to stabilize population size, ensure appropriate needs distribution, and improve the quality of life. Family planning is the main measure to regulate birth rate, to assure everyone a well-to-do, equal, progressive and happy life. These will crate a reduction in population growth, which are very good news because lately population growth in vietnam has been increasing, and they to stop that, and don´t enter into overpopulation. 

   

Demographic plan, family planning solutions, Growth, 10 Nov. 2010

Full Article: http://maps.thefullwiki.org/Demographics_of_Vietnam

Position

     Vietnam´s perception on this topic;  Family planning, is that is an important part of the development strategy; a fundamental factor to improve life for each person. Family planning has basically met the various needs of people, with advantage and safety. Private health care and non-governmental organizations are encouraged to create conditions to supply services for reproductive health and control. There are more and more people getting married late, less reproduction to prepare good economic conditions in which to bring up their children. Almost all women today know that family planning will create condition for them to keep and protect health, develop their capabilities, and join political activities with aim of raising their position in society. 

Global Health, Family Planning, 8 de noviembre del 2010, USAID.

 Full article: http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/global_health/pop/publications/docs/eradicatefgc.html

Legal Framework

This document contains every detail about family planning in Vietnam, with every solutions and decision they´ve made.

a)   The 9th Party Congress Document, National Politics Publishing House, Hanoi, 2001, p.107. 

      Article, Family plannig solutions 8 de Noviembre del 2010 

      Link for the Full Article:  http://www.vjol.info/index.php/vss/article/viewFile/271/221

 

International News on Family Planning

Some International News on this topic:

     WATERTOWN, MA, October 15, 2010  

    This week two studies were released which make the case that giving women the opportunity to plan the timing of their pregnancies and size of their families will slow population growth, significantly reducing carbon emissions by 8-15%.

    More than two hundred million women around the world want, but lack access to, conceptives. It is right that must be addressed and is now increasingly urgent as climate change accelerates.

        

 Pathfinder international, family planning and climate change, Reproductive Heath, 10 de nov. 2010

    

      Full Article: 

     http://www.pathfind.org/site/PageServer?pagename=News_Climate_Change_study

         

           

New Types Of Birth Control

As modern technology continues to advance, the science of contraception advances as well.  Read about natural family planning and how you can cause or prevent pregnancy without the use of hormones and drugs.  If you are looking for a natural way to plan or prevent pregnancy, consider fertility monitors, which are small computers widely used in Europe to predict when it is safe to have sex, without any birth control drugs or devices, or to predict when it is time to conceive. If you are looking for something more traditional,new birth control, pills are also always in the works and other new methods are currently under development.  Find out if one of these new developments is right for you.  Epigee, Birth Control, Family planning, 10 de Nov. 2010, Reproductive Health.

                Full Article:http://www.epigee.org/family-planning-new-methods.html

Topic B, Family Planning

¿What is Family Planning ?

Family planning is sometimes used as a synonym for the use of birth control, though it often includes more. It is most usually applied to a female-male couple who wish to limit the number of children they have and/or to control the timing of pregnancy. Family planning may encompass sterilization, as well as pregnancy termination.

Sexual Health Center, Glosary: Family Planning, 10 Nov. 2010

Full Article: http://www.lunco.cfsh.info/sexual-reproductive-health-glossary/glossary-E-F.html

Vietnam´s perspective on GMF

The Government in 2007 approved a GM food management project under which Vietnam aims to have 70% of the country’s plant cultivation area using biological technology in 2020. Of this, plants with genetic modification will account for 30 to 50%.

Vietnam’s biotech scientists said that the country was working on a pilot scheme for using biotech to grow corn, soybean and some other crops, so the country would need to develop a GM food labeling law.

Vietnam’s Government is drafting a decree governing the safety of biotechnology-based foods, so the labeling of genetically modified foods is expected to start from 2015, according to the HCMC Biotechnology Center.

Genetically modified food is almost everywhere, vietnam net bridge, 21 September 2010-10-04

Full link for the complete Article: http://english.vietnamnet.vn/social/201004/Genetically-modified-food-is-almost-everywhere-905736/

Vietnam to grow genetically-modified corn

Vietnam intends to plant genetically-modified corn in 2011 after successfully completing an experimental project.

The Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Bui Ba Bong, said the project showed that genetically-modified corn can adapt to the weather and land in these areas.

It also showed that this corn is resistant to pests, diseases and could help Vietnam reduce it imports of maize for making animal fodder.

Vietnam produces between 1.1-1.2 million tons of maize a year while it needs 1.5 million tons.

The genetically-modified corn will be planted on a large scale from 2011, if it passes a final test, said Bong.

Vietnam to grow genetically-modified corn, Tuoitre news, September  21, 2010.

Full Article Link: http://tuoitrenews.vn/cmlink/tuoitrenews/society/vietnam-to-grow-genetically-modified-corn-1.11727

Current issues, International news on topic 1 (GMF)

Resisting Roundrup

A vast majority of soybeans and corn planted in this country, and in much of the world, are genetically engineered, and the technology is rapidly pushing its way into many more crops.

For farmers, the benefits are real — with these seeds they can spend less time plowing and cultivating and can use more benign agricultural chemicals to kill weeds. But according to a recent report from the National Research Council, there are also signs of trouble, chief among them the appearance in various parts of the country of herbicide-resistant weeds.

Resisting Roundrup, NY TIMES, Genetically Modified Food (GMF), May 16, 2010

Full Link for the complete Aricle: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/17/opinion/17mon3.html?ref=genetically_modified_food

Genetically Engineered Distortions

More than 80 percent of the corn, soybeans and cotton grown in the United States is genetically engineered, and a report by the National Research Council, details the “long and impressive list of benefits” that has come from these crops, including improved soil quality, reduced erosion and reduced insecticide use.

It also confirmed predictions that widespread cultivation of these crops would lead to the emergence of weeds resistant to a commonly used herbicide, glyphosate. Predictably, both sides have done what they do best when it comes to genetically engineered crops: they’ve argued over the findings.

By Pamela C. Ronald and James E. McWilliams, Genetically Engineered Distortions, NY Times, May 14, 2010.

Full link for this Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/15/opinion/15ronald.html?ref=genetically_modified_food

Topic 1: Food genetically modified

This is the first topic to take place in this blog, and is going to be related to Vietnam, offering different sources of information about it.


What is Genetically modified food?

Genetically modified (GM) foods are foods derived from organisms whose genetic material (DNA) has been modified in a way that does not occur naturally, e.g. through the introduction of a gene from a different organism. Currently available GM foods stem mostly from plants, but in the future foods derived from GM microorganisms or GM animals are likely to be introduced on the market. Most existing genetically modified crops have been developed to improve yield, through the introduction of resistance to plant diseases or of increased tolerance of herbicides.

In the future, genetic modification could be aimed at altering the nutrient content of food, reducing its allergenic potential, or improving the efficiency of food production systems. All GM foods should be assessed before being allowed on the market. FAO/WHO Codex guidelines exist for risk analysis of GM food.

WHO, Genetically Modified Food, World Health Organization, 29 September 2010.
Full Article: http://www.who.int/topics/food_genetically_modified/en/

HISTORY

Vietnam's identity has been shaped by long-running conflicts, both internally and with foreign forces. In 111 BC, China's Han dynasty conquered northern Vietnam's Red River Delta and the ancestors of today's Vietnamese. Chinese dynasties ruled Vietnam for the next 1,000 years, inculcating it with Confucian ideas and political culture, but also leaving a tradition of resistance to foreign occupation. In 939 AD, Vietnam achieved independence under a native dynasty. After 1471, when Vietnam conquered the Champa Kingdom in what is now central Vietnam, the Vietnamese moved gradually southward, finally reaching the agriculturally rich Mekong Delta, where they encountered previously settled communities of Cham and Cambodians. As Vietnam's Le dynasty declined, powerful northern and southern families, the Trinh and Nguyen, fought civil wars in the 17th and 18th centuries. A peasant revolt originating in the Tay Son region of central Vietnam defeated both the Nguyen and the Trinh and unified the country at the end of the 18th century, but was itself defeated by a surviving member of the Nguyen family, who founded the Nguyen dynasty as Emperor Gi
Independence: September 2, 1945.a Long in 1802. 
Full Article: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/4130.htm

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Treaties:
Land Border Agreement signed in December 1999, with China.
Borders in the Gulf of Tonkin signed in December 2000, with China.
Bilateral Trade Agreement on December 10, 2001, with U.S.A         


Organizations that this country belongs to: 

1ADB, APEC, APT, ARF, ASEAN, CICA (observer), CP, EAS, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, MIGA, NAM, OIF, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO


                     FullArticle:http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/4130.htm#foreign

CULTURE

Population (2009): 85.79 million





Ethnicities: 54 groups including Vietnamese (Kinh) (85.73%), Tay (1.97%), Thai (1.79%), Muong (1.52%), Khmer (1.37%), Chinese (1.13%), Nung (1.13%), Hmong (1.11%).

Literacy rate (2009):  90%
Religion (2008): Buddhism (approx. 50%), Catholicism (8%-10%), Cao Dai (1.5%-3%), Protestantism (0.5%-2%), Hoa Hao (1.5%-4%), Islam (0.1%), and other animist religions.

FullArticle:http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/4130.htm

GOVERNMENT

Type of government: Single-party constitutional republic

Elections:
The assembly meets twice yearly for 7-10 weeks each time; elections for members are held every 5 years, although its Standing Committee meets monthly and there are now over 100 "full-time" deputies who function on various committees.

Current government officials:
President--Nguyen Minh Triet
Prime Minister--Nguyen Tan Dung
National Assembly Chairman--Nguyen Phu Trong
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs--Pham Gia Khiem
Ambassador to the United States--Le Cong Phung
Ambassador to the United Nations--Le Luong Minh 


      Full Article: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/4130.htm

ECONOMY

Economy: 

GDP (2009): $92.6 billion.
Real growth rate: 5.32% (2009); 5.8% (first quarter of 2010 year-on-year).
GDP Per capita income (2009): $1,052.

Imports: $68.8 billion (first quarter 2010: $17.5 billion). Principal imports, machinery, oil and gas, iron and steel, garment materials, plastics.

Exports: $56.6 billion (first quarter 2010: $14.0 billion). Principal exports, crude oil, garments/textiles, footwear, fishery and seafood products, rice (world’s second-largest exporter), pepper (spice; world’s largest exporter), wood products, coffee, rubber, handicrafts. 

Trade Partners: China, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand, U.S., EU, Australia, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

    Full Article: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/4130.htm