POP singer Katy Perry visited the rural Ninh Thuan province in Vietnam as part of her role as Unicef goodwill ambassador.
The singer visited various Unicef-backed institutions and rural villages to highlight the plight of children affected by exclusion or poverty in the region.
According to the Unicef press release, in some regions of Ninh Thuan, 20 percent of children don’t go to school and around half of children live in poverty. 15 per cent of children in Ninh Thuan are from ethnic backgrounds who don’t speak Vietnamese, which in turn means exclusion from education.
The organization also stated that high numbers of children die from preventable diseases because of a lack of health care.
Perry was appointed a Unicef goodwill ambassador in December 2013 with a special focus to improve the lives of the world’s most vulnerable young people.
U.S. President Barack Obama paid a visit to Vietnam in late may where he largely focused on normalizing relations with the country but he also promoted human rights and chided Vietnam about restrictions on political freedoms. (Eagle News)
