Illustrative Image. — Photo cand.com.vn

HÀ NỘI ­ — About 20 per cent of the Vietnamese population needs financial support, said Dr Nguyễn Ngọc Toản, deputy head of the Social Protection Department under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, yesterday at a workshop in Hà Nội.

The workshop set a target in which 4 per cent of the Vietnamese population (about 3.6 million people) will be able to access financial support between 2016 and 2020. At least 50 per cent of these beneficiaries will be old people without caretakers, the disabled, the homeless, underprivileged children and victims of domestic violence and human trafficking.

The workshop aimed to discuss the development and reform of the social assistance system from 2016-2030.

According to Toản, among those in need of assistance, there are about 9.4 million elderly people, accounting for more than 10 per cent of the population.

Seven million disabled people, more than 2.5 million children in extremely disadvantaged circumstances, more than 100,000 poor single parents and more than 200,000 HIV/AIDS-affected people are also in the needy group, Toản said.

He blamed the food shortages between harvest times and the Lunar New Year holiday on natural disasters, fire and harvest loss.

He said that as many as 2.6 million people nationwide currently enjoyed financial support.

In another report, while working with National Committee on Ageing on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister (PM) Vũ Đức Đam urged ministries and agencies raise health and social insurance coverage for the elderly to the country’s average.

Up to 4 million out of more than 10 million elderly people in Việt Nam have no access to health insurance, he said, adding that taking care of the elderly was increasingly important as there were about additional half a million elderly people every year. — VNS