For the past month, a “rice ATM” has been automatically dispensing free rice 24/7 to people badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hanoi has welcomed the opening of a VND0 Happy Supermarket which provides essential goods to people from less well-off backgrounds to help them overcome the challenges they face in the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic.

Millions of meals will be donated to poor people in big cities as part of a programme launched by the Central Committee of Vietnam Youth Federation (VYF) and PepsiCo Vietnam.

The outbreak of COVID-19 epidemic has posed severe challenges for underprivileged people nationwide, with ordinary citizens rallying to assist them and creating a number of heartfelt moments among communities across Vietnam.

Elderly women who are living in a boarding hamlet at the foot of Long Bien Bridge in Hanoi have to earn their living through a variety of jobs such as selling water, scrap dealing, picking up trash, and porter.

 VietNamNet Bridge – There are tens of food shops near the Saigon Railway Station to sell steamed rice to poor people.

 VietNamNet Bridge – In a corner in front of a small lane in District 1, HCM City, 18-year-old Nguyen Ba Cuong was concentrating on mending an old pair of shoes.

 The Northwestern mountainous region has the highest number of poor and near-poor households in Vietnam, which account for more than half of its total households, according to preliminary outcomes of a recent survey.

 VietNamNet Bridge – In Danang City, people are talking about a coffee shop which uses earnings to do charity work, including giving gifts and free meals to the poor.

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 VietNamNet Bridge – When she was 19, Nguyen Thi Hien would be panting hard after 30 minutes of walking from her village to a main road with 50kg of bamboo on her back.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Viet Nam's current poverty reduction policies have failed to motivate self-reliance among target beneficiaries and made them over-reliant on Government support, some officials warn.

 VietNamNet Bridge – A full two years has passed since Thach Thi Sa Lal (not her real name) was rescued from a brothel in Cambodia and brought back to her hometown in An Giang Province in the Mekong Delta.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The real estate market will recover in 2014, said Deputy Construction Minister Nguyen Tran Nam in an interview granted to a VOV online reporter about the property market in 2003 and forecasts in 2014.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Singers Phuong Dung and Giao Linh and many other Vietnamese overseas artists are travelling back to Viet Nam for Tet (Lunar New Year) this year, and are set to perform in HCM City and elsewhere.

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The Lao News Agency (KPL) confirmed on October 16 that all 49 passengers on board were killed in a plane crash.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Lawmakers have agreed to issue the Law on Public Investment to improve the efficiency of public investment in line with the country's socio-economic development plan, while also meeting the demand for economic restructuring.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam is implementing 17 policies to help the poor but these policies are not very effective. There should be stronger measures to assist needy people to escape poverty in a sustainable way.