The “Wonderful Childhood” campaign, which runs from June to December, focuses on the importance of providing a healthy, safe and loving environment for children, especially during the first three years of their lives.

It encourages parents and other family members to spend time playing with children and helping children to understand the world that surrounds them. Other messages highlight efforts to bring up children in a physically and mentally healthy way and to equip them with social skills and a code of ethics.

“Being thoughtful and considerate to children during their early years will help to avoid complicated problems as well as later wastes for society,” said Nguyen Thi Thanh Nga, an educational specialist from UNICEF.

This message will be broadcast by television channels and radio stations as well as with assistance from local volunteers, speakers at meetings held by mass organisations and nurses at day-care centres across the province.