The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Vietnam presented daily supplies to residents in the south central province of Ninh Thuan on June 9, in a bid to assist them in COVID-19 prevention and control.

The activity was a joint effort of UNICEF and the Centre for Clean Water Supply and Rural Environment Hygiene under the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Binh Thuan.

Accordingly, the UNICEF handed over 500 water purifiers and 2,500 bars of soap to 500 residents in Phuoc Trung commune (Bac Ai district) and Loi Hai and Phuoc Khang communes (Thuan Bac district). It also offered 300 hand wash gel bottles and six posters on the COVID-19 fight to medical stations there.

The UN agency also delivered 2,280 water purifiers, 10,260 bars of soaps and 456 posters to 228 local schools.

Tran Ngoc Hung, Deputy Director of the centre, said the gifts help ease the shortage of water for daily use caused by drought and saltwater intrusion, as well as mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on vulnerable groups such as children and poor households.

Ninh Thuan is among seven provinces benefiting from the support of the UNICEF in Vietnam, which offered a total of 10,540 ceramic-made water purifiers, over 14,000 bottles of hand-washing gel and 50,000 soap bars to 3,139 households, 772 schools and 127 medical stations in Ninh Thuan, Ben Tre, Soc Trang, Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Dien Bien and Lao Cai provinces.