This participatory poverty assessment (PPA 2006) comprises one component of ADB’s Technical Assistance to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic for Institutional Strengthening for Poverty Monitoring and Evaluation. The goal of this PPA, as with the first PPA in 2000, is to complement the statistical analyses of poverty in a meaningful way and to record the experiences and concerns of the poor in order to initiate and identify more effective forms of public and private actions to alleviate poverty.

Vietnam Land Administration system has implemented successfully the land policy in recent decades. In the next phase of socio-economic development plan, land is requested to become important domestic resources for many investment projects. Obviously, land registration needs further development so that land use rights or land use right certificate can be used as asset in the open market. In the past ten years, many improved on land registration was undertaken. Many first-look problems have been identified and fixed. The issues of Vietnam land registration are more difficult to identify.

Agriculture is fundamental to achieving nutrition goals: it produces the food, energy, and nutrients essential for human health and well-being. Gains in food production have played a key role in feeding growing and malnourished populations. Yet they have not translated into a hunger-free world nor prevented the development of further nutritional challenges. Micronutrient deficiencies (for example, of vitamin A, iron, iodine, and zinc) are now recognized as being even more limiting for human growth, development, health, and productivity than energy deficits.

Policymaking initiatives in agriculture and public health are often pursued in a parallel and unconnected fashion. Yet coherent, joint action in agriculture and health could have large potential benefits and substantially reduce risks for the poor. Among development professionals there is growing recognition that agriculture influences health, and health influences agriculture, and that both in turn have profound implications for poverty reduction.

"Good health and productive agriculture are both essential in the fight against poverty. In a rapidly changing world, agriculture faces many challenges, both old (natural resource constraints, extreme weather conditions, and agricultural pests) and new (globalization, environmental degradation, problems of maintaining production in conflict situations). At the same time, new global health threats emerge, such as HIV/AIDS, SARS, and avian influenza, while old ones persist.

Agriculture produces food fundamental for human health. It therefore seems obvious that agriculture, food, and health are related! Agriculture affects whether people have enough food to eat, whether it is of sufficient nutritional value, and whether it is safe, all of which affect human health. But it is not so simple: history has taught that there are different ways of looking at the relationships between agriculture, food, and health. Agricultural connections to food and health are mediated by the natural environment, human culture, and technological change.

"Agriculture is the main source of livelihood of the majority of people affected by HIV and AIDS globally, and it is being progressively undermined by the disease. In Sub-Saharan Africa AIDS is affecting the rural landscape in ways that demand a rethinking of development policy and practice, and parts of South Asia may soon face a similar situation.... There is clearly tremendous scope for agricultural policy to become more HIV-responsive, both to further AIDS-related objectives and to help achieve agricultural objectives. Yet there are no magic bullets.

"Agriculture is the main source of livelihood of the majority of people affected by HIV and AIDS globally, and it is being progressively undermined by the disease. In Sub-Saharan Africa AIDS is affecting the rural landscape in ways that demand a rethinking of development policy and practice, and parts of South Asia may soon face a similar situation.... There is clearly tremendous scope for agricultural policy to become more HIV-responsive, both to further AIDS-related objectives and to help achieve agricultural objectives. Yet there are no magic bullets.

"For the practice of agroforestry to yield its full potential, it needs to bring health and nutrition to the fore.

Malaria, schistosomiasis (bilharzia), and Japanese encephalitis are the major vector-borne diseases whose increase or decrease can be attributed to agricultural water development (see table). Others include dengue fever, yellow fever, and filariasis. Young children in poor communities are particularly affected: malaria is among the top five causes of death among under-fives in Sub-Saharan Africa; schistosomiasis among children affects growth, nutritional status, and cognitive development; and encephalitis occurs mainly in young children...

Beyond the obvious catastrophic effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic on mortality, demographicchanges, and the suffering of individuals and their families, we are still only learning about thecomplex longer-term effects of the pandemic on poverty and vulnerability. For example, theHIV/AIDS pandemic has substantially increased the number of widow-headed households inAfrica. A huge number of conceptual and qualitative studies highlight gender inequalities inproperty rights, and the difficulties that widows and their dependents face in retaining access toland after the death of their husbands.

Agriculture is fundamental to achieving nutrition goals: it produces the food, energy, and nutrients essential for human health and well-being. Gains in food production have played a key role in feeding growing and malnourished populations. Yet they have not translated into a hunger-free world nor prevented the development of further nutritional challenges. Micronutrient deficiencies (for example, of vitamin A, iron, iodine, and zinc) are now recognized as being even more limiting for human growth, development, health, and productivity than energy deficits.