The Ministry of Labour, War Invalid and Social Affairs and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) in Vietnam jointly held a conference in Hanoi on March 29 discussing the root cause behind child abandonment in Vietnam. Participants named poverty, health-related matters, unwanted pregnancy, social isolation and gender inequality as major reasons that have forced many people to give up their right to raise their offspring. According to Le Thi Hong Loan, Chief of the United Nations Children Protection Programme in Vietnam , the number of abandoned children in the country tends to rise. She suggested providing supporting and counseling services to trace possible signs of children being abandoned by poor families and increase support for these disadvantaged families. Nguyen Hai Huu, Head of the Department for Children Protection and Care added that the current policies designed to support poor families are ineffective, pushing many of these families to abandon their child-raising right. UNICEF Deputy Chief Representative in Vietnam Jesper Moller affirmed that his fund will work with Vietnam to improve the protection and care of children and developing policies to assist disadvantaged kids and abandoned children.