ABSTRACT
Vietnam has made considerable progress in human development, which is reflected in increasing incomes and the impressive reduction in poverty. The Government of Vietnam places human beings at the center of development, promoting human potential and the well-being of all and this is reflected in the success of the doi moi reforms and in the new Socio-Economic Development Strategy 2001-2010. Equity is a key concern of the Government and is at the center of the human development process. The Government is devising a number of long-term sectoral strategies for human development: the Education, Science and Technology and Information Technology strategies, the Population, Reproductive Health and Health Strategies, and the targeted poverty reduction Strategy. Generally, the Government documents point in the right directions of decentralization and building of a knowledge-based economy. The Government strategy seems to underestimate the acute need to raise the quality of services, particularly at commune and district levels.
