I wonder if we can reach the millionium gold to get rid of poverty in Laos ! read this news
Bachiengchaleunsouk in Champassak province has been added to the list of 47 poorest districts in the country, coming in at number 19 as classified by the Poverty Reduction Fund (PRF).
Champassak PRF coordinator Phaengphet Soulivong said the district had been added to the list for several reasons. People here suffered difficult living conditions, infrastructure was poor and most people in rural areas had no access to facilities as in other districts of the province.
According to Mr Phaengphet, people living in remote areas cannot obtain information and have no means of communication, such as a telephone. They also have no radio or newspapers.
Po or health is also prevalent in this district. Large numbers of people have no access to safe drinking water and drink unboiled river water. Many people are illiterate and schools are old and in poor condition. Children are well above the normal age when they start primary school.
Mr Phaengphet also said most people had poor quality houses and lived in structures made of bamboo and thatch rather than concrete.
Bachiengchaleunsouk and Soukhouma are the poorest districts in Champassak province. Both are included in the list of the 47 poorest districts, with Bachiengchaleunsouk officially added in March.
Laos consists of 142 districts of which fewer than half do not appear on this list. Twenty-five others are considered by the government to be moderately poor, according to statistics from the Poverty Reduction Fund in Vientiane .
PRF statistics for Champassak province state that Bachiengchaleunsouk district has 31 villages classified as poor out of a total of 45. More than 47,000 people in over 8,000 households live in Bachien gchaleunsouk.
The population of Champassak province, living in 10 districts, was recorded at 607,370 in 2006, comprising 105,093 households, according to the National Statistics Centre.
Some 13,000 of these households were living below the poverty line. By 2007 that number had been reduced to 10,000, according to Mr Phaengphet.
He said records collected in 2004 showed most poor households were in Pathoumphon, Soukhouma, Mounlapamok and Khong districts, and these had been targeted for assistance.
The PRF was established in Champassak province in 2004. It oversees development projects in the areas of public health, road construction, agriculture and forestry, and education.
