- Mr. Pham Duc Luan, Director General of the Vietnam Disaster and Dyke Management Authority, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development;
- Leaders and senior officials from the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management
- Distinguished guests
- Good evening to all of you!
It’s my honour to welcome you to this evening’s event at the Hoi An Memories Theater, which is jointly held by the United Nations Population Fund – UNFPA in Vietnam and the Vietnam Disaster and Dyke Management Authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
I would like to thank Mr. Pham Duc Luan for co-organising this event as part of the 42nd meeting of the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management in Danang to showcase our roles and support for the vulnerable population groups, including women and girls, young people, peoples with disabilities and the older persons who are affected by disasters in the world, in the ASEAN countries, and in Vietnam.
Dear Participants,
Natural disasters are becoming more unpredictable and extreme due to climate change, causing increased and extensive damage to people and property on our planet. And ASEAN is among the most disaster-prone regions in the world. Likewise in Vietnam, due to climate change, natural disasters have been increasingly irregular including floods, storms, extreme temperature, landslides, drought and wildfire.
In this context, you are gathered here in Danang to discuss a pressing issue that demands our attention and collective action to move "From Response to Anticipatory Action and Resilience: ASEAN's Journey Towards Global Leadership in Disaster Management". Taking this opportunity, I would like to share with you what UNFPA has been doing in terms of humanitarian emergencies globally and in Vietnam.
During conflicts, natural disasters and public health emergencies, sexual and reproductive health needs are often overlooked – with staggering consequences. Pregnant women risk life-threatening complications without access to delivery and emergency obstetric care services. Women and girls may lose access to contraceptives, exposing them to unintended pregnancy in perilous conditions. Women and girls can also become more vulnerable to gender-based violence, sexual assault, intimate partner violence and harmful practices, exploitation and HIV infection.
As a leading UN agency for sexual and reproductive health, UNFPA is on the ground before, during and after crises, working closely with governments, local NGOs, UN agencies and other partners to ensure that sexual and reproductive health and rights and responses to gender-based violence are integrated into emergency responses.
In Vietnam, UNFPA provides support to the Government of Viet Nam within UNFPA Country Programme. UNFPA has collaborated with the Vietnam Disaster Management and Dyke Authority to establish and co-chair the Gender-Based Violence in the Emergencies Sub-Sector of the Humanitarian Country Team frame work.
In terms of humanitarian support, in the period from 2020 to 2022 alone, our total funding for emergency management reached over 1.4 million USD. Our support focused on ensuring sexual and reproductive health and rights in collaboration with the Ministry of Health; and on preventing and responding to gender-based and domestic violence and assisting the survivors with the support from the Vietnam Farmers’ Union and the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs. UNFPA has also collaborated with the Vietnam Youth Union to support older persons in the flooded areas in the central part of Vietnam.
We have distributed about 21,000 Dignity Kits, which are consisting of 21 hygiene and sanitary items and GBV information leaflets to ensure women, girls, men and boys to maintain their basic hygiene and dignity in times of crisis. Nearly 9 million people in the flood-afected provinces were reached through mobile text messages on GBV. We also distributed medical equipment for maternal health and personal protective equipment (PPEs) to district and commune health facilities in the 11 affected provinces, replacing those that were damaged or lost due to the floods. We organised nearly 400 mobile service delivery teams to reach out to nearly 76,000 vulnerable people with the majority being women. Older people living in the flood-affected areas also received our dignity kits through the Vietnam Youth Union.
Distinguished guests,
UNFPA will continue to use innovative approaches to ensure rights-based, gender-sensitive, and people-centred approaches in humanitarian preparedness and response to safeguard health, well-beings, rights, and dignity of individuals affected by humanitarian emergencies, and contribute to their resilience and long-term development. All of our joint efforts with the governments and CSOs and individuals are to achieve our three transformative results everywhere in the world: That is, Zero preventable maternal death, Zero unmet need for family planning, and Zero gender-based violence (GBV) and other harmful practices against women and girls.
Together, let us work towards a future where no one is left behind, and every person, regardless of their circumstances, can live a life of dignity, opportunity, and hope. This clearly includes emergency and humanitarian settings.
Thank you for your attention.
Enjoy the Hoi An Memory Show to experience the most authentic cultural and historical values of Vietnam.
