HO CHI MINH CITY, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City has outlined a new policy on more actively preventing and more quickly handling child abuse cases which includes new hotlines for victims and their families.

Within two hours after receiving the information, the person in charge must check the authenticity of the information and report it to the People's Committee of districts and wards which will then send the child to the hospital for emergency medical examinations and treatment, Vietnam News Agency reported Friday.

The hospital will send the initial diagnostics to the People's Committee two hours after receiving the child. After that, the chairperson of the People's Committee will petition for prosecution, with documents and evidence sent to the police.

More than 2,000 children in Vietnam each year face abuse, according to the country's Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Child abuse is defined as an act that has physical or psychological damage in the form of violence, maltreatment, or sexual assault.

Chief Judge of the Supreme People's Court of Vietnam Nguyen Hoa Binh said courts at all levels handled 8,100 child sexual abuse cases from 2013 to 2017.