Focus on communication on population and development

Tan Hiep Medical Center staff visit and screen newborns at home. Photo: HANH CHAU

Doctor Chung Tan Thinh - Deputy Director of the Department of Health said that the quality of population in the province has been gradually improved, solutions to increase birth rate to achieve replacement birth rate, gender imbalance at birth has been basically controlled. The sex ratio at birth has gradually stabilized within the natural balance (108.13 male newborns/100 female newborns; the rate of children under 15 years old is about 16.2%, the rate of people aged 65 and over is about 11.3%, the population size is stable, about 3.7 million people).

The local budget has allocated more than 153.6 billion VND to ensure resources for population work in the 2021 - 2025 period, of which 10.5 billion VND is spent on communication work on population and development. "Departments, branches and organizations coordinate more closely in implementing population work, from which the results of population work have changed positively. "Each couple has 2 children" has initially changed and spread throughout society. Population quality is increasingly improved, population distribution is more reasonable, associated with ensuring national defense and security, contributing significantly to socio- economic development," Mr. Chung Tan Thinh assessed.

In Tan Hiep commune, the role of population collaborators is effectively promoted. Head of Population and Development Department, Tan Hiep Medical Center Phan Truc Phuong said: "The center has 215 population collaborators, managing 215 areas, with the task of monitoring and updating household changes, collecting population information, propagating and mobilizing people to implement population policies, not choosing the sex of the fetus, consulting on pre-marital health check-ups... With the efforts of the center and the team of population collaborators, communication activities are organized in a variety of ways."

Following this team, we can see that the DS collaborators are truly the “extended arm” of the DS sector, playing an important role as a bridge between policy and people at the grassroots level. The collaborators “go to every alley, knock on every door, check every subject” to grasp the thoughts and aspirations of the people, thereby promptly reporting difficulties and obstacles in accessing medical and DS services. They use the “slow and steady” method, mobilizing and convincing people with practical stories, close to and suitable to the culture of each community; supporting people to access medical and DS services at the grassroots level.

Ms. Phan Truc Phuong added: “Thanks to these efforts, over the past 5 years, people's awareness has changed positively, the annual prenatal and newborn screening rate has reached 100% of the target. The rate of couples participating in premarital health check-ups has met and exceeded the target. The rate of households with access to information and communication annually has reached 80 - 85%. The rate of gender imbalance at birth in the locality has decreased slightly (from 110 boys/100 girls in 2021 to 108.5 boys/100 girls in 2024)...”.

Giang Thanh commune has 32,673 people, of which ethnic minorities account for about 20.1%, posing many challenges in communication and education work. The lives of people in border areas, especially Khmer people, are still difficult, and they pay little attention to accessing population and reproductive health services. Language barriers and educational levels are also challenges because a part of Khmer people are not fluent in Vietnamese. Some bad customs such as early marriage and having many children to "have luck and fortune" still exist, reducing the sustainability of applying modern family planning measures. Migration across the border, unregistered marriages, and spontaneous labor migration increase the risk of difficulty in controlling population management, reproductive health, and combating early marriage and incestuous marriage.

Giang Thanh Medical Center said that with the efforts of communication work, the size of families with 2 children is increasingly accepted. In 2024, the crude birth rate is 11.91%, an increase of 2.1% compared to 2023; the rate of couples of childbearing age using modern contraceptive methods is 61.7%; the rate of elderly people receiving periodic health check-ups increased by 17%... These figures affirm the correctness of the Party and State's population policies and guidelines, demonstrating the sense of responsibility and dedication of the grassroots population staff.

Deputy Director of the Department of Health Chung Tan Thinh is concerned that the total fertility rate of the province after the merger is 1.74 children/woman, belonging to the group of 13 provinces with low fertility below the replacement level. More than 515,000 elderly people (aged 60 and over) account for more than 10% of the population. This leads to challenges for socio-economic development, especially the risk of labor shortage, health care for the elderly, the health system, social security, and economic stagnation. The program to expand screening, diagnosis, and treatment of some prenatal and neonatal diseases and disabilities, although achieving high results, has not met the requirements of prenatal screening packages (4 diseases) and newborn screening (5 diseases) according to the decision of the Ministry of Health, and has not yet been implemented at public health facilities. These problems cannot be solved in a day or two but require the consensus, creativity, and perseverance of the entire political system, of each family and each individual.

HANH CHAU

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/chu-trong-truyen-thong-ve-dan-so-va-phat-trien-a465163.html