Hanoi (VNA) – The multidimensionalapproach to poverty, which has been adopted by Vietnam for nearly three years,have produced encouraging results, reflected in remarkable improvement inliving conditions in disadvantaged areas.  
After the MOLISA carried out aproject on shifting to the multidimensional approach in poverty measurement, newpoverty criteria based on multidimensional approach for 2016-2020 were issuedunder Decision 59/2015/QD-TTg in 2015.

Under the new approach, poverty measurement was nolonger based on only per capita income as in the 2011-2015 period. Instead, themeasurement also took into account the access to basic social services whichare health care, education, housing, clean water and hygiene condition, andinformation access. Access to basic social services is measured based on 10 indices,namely adults’ educational level, children’s schooling, access to medicalservices, health insurance, housing quality, per capita housing area, water fordaily life, toilet facilities, telecom services, and assets serving informationaccess.

The poverty line regarding income was also adjusted upin alignment with specific situation in different regions. 

A national survey revealed that the multidimensionalhousehold poverty rate was 9.88 percent at the time the new approach wasadopted. Of which, the number of households living under the poverty incomeline was 1.7 million, or 7.47 percent of the total. Meanwhile, 573,270households, or 2.41 percent, lacked access to basic social services.

By 2017, the poverty rate reduced to 6.7 percent, withremarkable improvements recorded in access to social services. For example, therate of adults lacking access to education dropped from 19.61 percent in 2016to 16.52 percent at the end of 2017, and the rate of children not able to go toschool decreased from 6.77 percent to 5.4 percent.  

Meanwhile, the rate of inaccessibility to health carewent down from 6.2 percent of households to 5.03 percent, and the rateregarding clean water access fell from 21.21 percent to 17.71 percent. Only17.47 percent of households lacked access to information as of the end of 2017compared to 21.25 percent in 2016.

The new multidimensional poverty criteria have helpedministries, sectors and local administrations better focus their resources andefforts on improving access to social services.

The Ministry ofLabour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) will conduct more in-depthresearch with a view to perfecting poverty measurement based on themultidimensional approach, providing the foundation for designing policies onpoverty reduction and social security.

MOLISA Minister DaoNgoc Dung said the ministry will propose priorities in investment in poorareas, especially mountainous and ethnic minority areas, with the aim of makinggreater improvements in living conditions and access to basic social services, reducingthe rich-and-poor gap among regions and groups of population, and ensuringfairness among groups of beneficiaries of State support.-VNA