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Lachanthaboun Appointed as President of National Olympic Committee of Laos

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Laotian Times
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Sengdeuane Lachanthaboun has been elected as the new President of the National Olympic Committee of Laos (NOCL).

Also the Minister for Education and Sports in the Asian country, Lachanthaboun will serve a four-year term until the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

She is also the President of the Lao Table Tennis Federation with her election coming amid closer ties between the Laos NOC and the country’s Sport Ministry.

Lachanthaboun feels that it her “honour and responsibility” to continue the development of sport in Laos, and has pledged to “commit herself fully to the task of promoting and fostering the Olympic movement in Laos and the world”.

“We look forward to working closely with the International Olympic Committee, Association of National Olympic Committees, Olympic Council of Asia and the family of other NOCs to strengthen our bilateral relations,” said vice president and secretary general Somphu Phongsa.

Phongsa had been the acting President of the organisation before Lachanthaboun’s election.

Laos has never won an Olympic medal and sent six athletes to the Rio 2016 Games in August.

Athletes Xaysa Anousone and Laenly Phoutthavong competed on the track in the men’s 110 metres hurdles and women’s 100m respectively, with cyclist Ariya Phounsavath failing to finish the men’s road race.

Judoka Soukphaxay Sithisane competed in the men’s under-60 kilogram class with swimmers Santisouk Inthavong and Siri Arun Budcharern racing in the men’s and women’s 50m freestyle respectively.

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Source: Inside the Games

Borikhamxay Districts Achieve Milestone in Sanitation

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Borikhamxay province: Two districts in this province – Pakxan and Thaphabath  are the first in the country to achieve Open Defecation Free (ODF) status now that all residents have access to improved sanitation.

The ODF programme began in June 2015, supported by the Central Nam Saat initiative under UNICEF.

Speaking at a ceremony on Tuesday to announce the districts’ success, Borikhamxay provincial Governor DrKongkeoXaysongkham said the two districts were the first in the entire country to achieve this status. These means that all 75,000 people including children and women in all 80 villages of these districts are now using toilets and no one is practising open defecation.

The achievement follows the government’s efforts to improve sanitation and hygiene and thus the health and well-being of communities across the country.

DrKongkeo said  today we are declaring that these two districts no longer practice open defecation. But health officials need to increase understanding of the importance of this work among local people as many families are poorly informed about the need for good hygiene and still don’t understand why it is necessary.

Sustaining their ODF status will be challenging for the districts, as they must comply with several criteria including use of a toilet, handwashing with soap, use of safe water, use of safe food, a clean house, and a clean environment.

A representative of UNICEF in Laos, Mr. Bishnu Timilsina, said this was a significant milestone because these are the very first ODF districts out of seven in Borikhamxay and are the first to be so declared in the whole of Laos. Allow me to take this opportunity to congratulate Thaphabath and Pakxan districts and everyone who contributed to this achievement, he said.

I wish to acknowledge the joint efforts of the provincial health department, Lao Women’s Union and other government agencies with support from UNICEF. This is remarkable teamwork to increase access to improved sanitation in these target districts.

We are working together with the province and district authorities, village chiefs, community leaders, young people, children and all residents, Mr. Timilsina added.

A practice that has gone on for hundreds, even thousands of years, has now disappeared after sustained effort over several years, he said. This is a life-changing moment for the populations of Pakxan and Thaphabath, as poor sanitation remains one of the biggest barriers to development because of its impact on health and education.

Mr. Timilsina said that even before starting school children are at risk from poor sanitation. Acute respiratory infections and diarrhoea diseases are the main cause of infant mortality and are related to unclean water, poor hygiene, and a lack of sanitation.

Open defecation is a major cause of malnutrition and stunting. The availability and use of toilets is important to the health and nutrition of children.

It is crucial for those living in remote rural areas to understand the link between basic sanitation and improved health. The contrast between urban and rural populations using improved sanitation is significant. In Laos, 91 percent of urban dwellers use improved sanitation compared with 48 percent of people living in rural areas.

Source: Vientiane Times

Kyoto Extends Support for Waste Management Project

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Japan’s Kyoto Prefecture has committed to continue to help clean up Vientiane after an initiative launched by the two cities in November 2015 proved successful.

The community-based waste management project supported by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) helped to develop an effective waste utilisation system with people’s participation in the villages of Akard, Anou, Kaoyord, and That Luang Kang.

Under the project, four Lao officials went to Kyoto to learn how such a project is being operated there. In addition, other officials underwent training in related fields in Laos so they could lead villagers in carrying out activities, including classifying waste.

Officials on both sides on Wednesday announced they would continue with the project to develop an effective waste utilisation system in Vientiane in cooperation with local residents, Director of the Natural Resources and Environment Department Mr. Bounhome Heangsavath reported at the opening ceremony of the next phase of the initiative.

 

Source: Vientiane Times

Ministry, Partners Seek to Ensure all Children Finish Primary School

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The main challenge facing the government and its development partners is the need to ensure that many more children complete primary school.

The Ministry of Education and Sports has set new nationwide enrolment targets. An enrolment rate of 51 percent is the new target for the 3-5 age group, while for lower secondary schools the target is an enrolment rate of 85 percent, up from 82 percent, within 2017 or beyond.

The figures were quoted during discussions at the ongoing National Assembly Ordinary Session.

Currently 82 percent of all children attending primary school in Laos complete their studies, an increase from 79 percent last year. The ministry’s aim is to raise this figure to 98 percent by the end of 2020 as one of the targets set under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

To achieve this target, the ministry called on state and private school administrators and education officials around the country to step up efforts to address the challenges facing the sector.

Figures show that only about two-thirds of children nationwide complete their primary education, with those coming from remote villages in the most educationally disadvantaged districts facing the greatest hurdles.

A ministry official, experts and researchers told Vientiane Times this week there is an urgent need to tackle issues such as poor school conditions, overcrowding, drug abuse and literacy rates, and the high dropout rate.

Making sure that children are able to stay in school and complete the full five grades of primary school remains a major challenge, they said.

While education has seen significant progress in recent years, greater efforts are essential to break through the barriers that still prevent many children, especially rural girls, from entering and staying in school, they noted.

Making sure that everyone benefits from a good education is critical to unleashing the country’s human resource potential and ensuring that Laos graduates from Least Developed Country status by 2020.

The ministry reported that national primary school enrolment rates have risen to 95.2 percent, up from 94.1 percent in the 2011-12 academic year. The gap between male and female enrolment has also narrowed, from 7 percent to 2 percent.

High levels of malnutrition in early childhood linked to rural poverty also represent a particular cause for concern, as hunger impairs brain development and diminishes children’s ability to learn.

Expansion of primary and secondary education, and improvements in literacy rates, especially for women, are also high priorities.

Source: Vientiane Times

Oudomxay Schoolchildren Get Refurbished Library after Floods

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Room to Read Laos has approved a special project to re-establish a library at Mokvieng Primary School in Baeng district, Oudomxay province, which suffered serious damage from flooding a few months ago.

The school was initially supported by Room to Read Laos with the provision of a library in 2014, which was well used until it was damaged in the rainy season.

A teacher at the school recalled the sight when first seeing the library after it was flooded. Most of the books were gone or lying on the floor covered in mud. Everything was gone and we were desperate.

The students and parents enthusiastically helped to recreate the library and were very excited when it was finished. Now the library is open regularly again and continues to serve the local community, he said.

Room to Read Laos coordinator, Ms Manysone Philathivong, told Vientiane Times after the flooding in Baeng district that the programme had provided over 300 new books, some library equipment and basic educational materials for the children at Mokvieng Primary School.

Meanwhile, programme staff are providing training in teaching methods and literacy instruction for local teachers to enable these schools to master the reading and writing of Lao as vital elements before moving on to learn other subjects in higher grades.

Room to Read Laos has also arranged for 25,000 children’s books covering a large variety of themed stories to be delivered to primary schools that lack children’s books in Pakxe and Phonthong districts in Champassak province when new libraries are built there.

Ms Manysone said the new libraries are now under construction and are expected to be completed by the end of this year, supported by Room to Read Laos.

Mokvieng Primary School has a total of 158 students and eight teachers, and teaches grades 1-5. The school is located in Mokvieng village about 20km from central Baeng district in a mountainous area.

The only way to reach the school is by small mountainous roads which are very difficult to access in the rainy season.

The flooding occurred in early August and a letter requesting help with the library’s renovation was sent by the school through the village education committee, with the support of the district and provincial education and sports department.

Room to Read Laos began operating in 2005 through three programmes: school construction, school libraries, and book publishing, to provide for schools in remote areas that lack children’s books.

The number of children borrowing books from libraries who receive assistance from Room to Read Laos is now about 150,000 a year, as recorded from 2012-2015.

T he number of people using school library services, including students and village communities, averages more than 500,000 people a year.

Room to Read seeks to transform the lives of millions of children in developing countries by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education.

Source: Vientiane Times

Chicken Farm Stink Raised at National Assembly

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The National Assembly’s Committee on Economic Technology and the Environment has reported to the Assembly’s ongoing debate session that complaints are being made about a chicken farm in Bachiangchaleunsouk district, Champassak province.

According to the committee, despite being rural people, local residents are quite disturbed by the smell coming from the farm.

Deputy Director of the provincial Agriculture and Forestry Department, Mr. Viengsay Sipraphone, told Vientiane Times on Thursday that there are many chicken farms in the district but that the smells are only emanating from the Soukchaleun farm.

A team from the department and the provincial Natural Resources and Environment Department visited the farm to look into the matter and suggest possible solutions.

The farm owner promised to tackle the problem after the end of Lent, at the end of last month, he said.

The farm has two machines that it uses to bake the dung in order to reduce the smell from the chickens’ excrement but this seems insufficient to eliminate the smells as the chickens produce about 50 tonnes of waste a month.

When the dung is dampened by rain, the smell gets stronger. However, the farm owners have promised to buy another four to six machines in order to bake the remaining dung.

The dung that is baked will be sold to farmers as fertiliser.

The farm was originally located far away from communities in Bachiangchaleunsouk district but because of population growth many houses have since been built nearby.

Farms in the district currently provide between 300,000 to 400,000 eggs a day for delivery to people in the provinces of Champassak, Saravan, Xekong and Attapeu.

More eggs will be produced for sale to markets in Savannakhet and Khammuan provinces.

However, the eggs are not packaged attractively so some potential buyers reject them .

If farm owners do not take steps to improve the appearance of their packaging, their market share may decline as more and more people want eggs that look appealing.

The eggs are sold in cardboard cartons and come straight from the farm and are not washed beforehand, so some of them have dung attached. Nowadays, people in Vientiane don’t want to buy eggs if they look dirty.

Source: Vientiane Times

Government, Development Partners Prepare for Polio Vaccination Campaign

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The Ministry of Health, in cooperation with various development partners, yesterday held a meeting in Vientiane to prepare for a countrywide polio vaccination campaign.

The polio vaccination project is supported by UNICEF and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The meeting was attended by health officials and representatives from the WHO, UNICEF, Rotarian International of Japan, JICA and the Korea Foundation for International Healthcare.

The meeting was chaired by Health Minister, Prof. Dr Bounkong Syhavong.

The project aims to erase polio in Laos by carrying out round 9 and round 10 of polio vaccinations, which will be held in November and January 2017.

Prof. Dr Bounkong reviewed the outcomes of previous polio vaccination drives from the first to eighth rounds. Vaccinations were administered in Xaysomboun, Borikhamxay and XiengKhuang provinces.

Since the third round, the project has been run in every province of the country. Vaccinations are given to children under 15 years of age and people at risk of infection with the virus in 67 districts. 120,000 people have been vaccinated with each round reaching 97 percent of the target population.

Nevertheless, children under 5 years of age are still at risk of polio infection due to the failure to inoculate the entire population, stressing the vital importance of rounds 9 and 10 in fully eradicating the virus.

According to the WHO Laos office, the organisation will boost the Minister of Health’s initiatives on the prevention of polio by focusing on children at risk in target provinces. If their plan succeeds, polio will be eradicated in Laos by 2017.

Source: Vientiane Times

Ceilings Imposed to Lower Interest Rates: Bank Governor

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Ceilings for deposit and loan interest rates have been imposed in an attempt to manage and lower the interest rate that commercial banks charge borrowers, the central bank governor has said.

Governor of the Bank of the Lao PDR Dr Somphao Phaysith recently made the comment as he detailed bank loan policies to boost production and economic growth in response to questions raised by members of the National Assembly (NA) during the ongoing ordinary session.

The central bank has stipulated that the deposit interest rate for commercial banks must not exceed the inflation rate by more than 2 percent. The difference between the deposit and loan interest rates must not exceed 4 percent, a decrease from the 5 percent imposed previously.

Interest rates for both deposits and loans have decreased compared to previous rates, which should be acceptable, the governor said.

The central bank stepped in last year to manage interest rates after learning the rates were previously too high.

Commercial bank lending rates were driven by market mechanisms from 1995 to 2013. The demand for loans has increased so commercial banks have raised interest rates on deposits to attract more depositors. The increase in deposit rates and other administrative costs drove loan interest rates higher, causing the central bank to intervene.

I n addition, the central bank charges only about 5 percent or slightly more than 5 percent from commercial banks who borrow short-term loans from the central bank for their financial liquidity.

The explanation came amid complaints that interest rates on bank loans in Laos were too high.

For example, interest rates charged by Banque Pour Le Commerce Exterieur Lao Public (BCEL) start from 9 percent for loans in kip with a lending period of no more than 12 months. Interest rates for different borrowing currencies and different levels of risk are charged differently.

The governor said multiple banking policies have been applied to support and drive economic growth, adding that since a few years ago the central bank has permitted commercial banks to use almost all their registered capital to be released as loans.

In addition, banks have mobilised capital from overseas financial sources to be released. As a result, banks have attracted considerable deposits.

By July (the 10th month of the 2015-16 fiscal year), commercial banks had accumulated more than 59,616 billion kip in deposits representing 54.84 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This was an increase of more than 5,692 billion kip compared to the same period last fiscal year.

Commercial banks will strive to increase deposits to 57 percent of GDP by the end of 2016 and further increase this to 84 percent by 2020.

Credit [loans] is increasing every year, Dr Somphao told the session.

We will do all we can to create conditions that are conducive to business growth.

The inflation rate has been maintained at about 1.2 to 1.3 percent.

The governor told the parliament the central bank had undertaken a study and was prepared to issue a new regulation that would allow businesses including importers to borrow bank loans in foreign currency to facilitate their trade.

The current regulation permits only those businesses whose income is in foreign currency to borrow in foreign currency.

As of July, there are 42 commercial banks and 158 legal financial institutions, which are not banks.

Source: Vientiane Times

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