Doing a good job in population management in Vinh Thuy

“With the involvement of the entire political system, in recent years, population and family planning work in Vinh Thuy commune, Vinh Linh district, has achieved many encouraging results. In particular, the commune has done well in disseminating information and mobilizing people of reproductive age to participate in examinations and consultations on reproductive health care/family planning; actively implementing activities, models, and projects to improve population quality and provide appropriate services to people in the area... Thereby, contributing to improving population quality and promoting socio-economic development in the locality,” said Hoang Thi Ha, Deputy Head of the Population Department - Vinh Linh District Health Center, in her assessment of Vinh Thuy commune.

Launching the "Elderly Helping Elderly" Club in Thuy Ba Tay village - Photo: DSVT

The entire Vinh Thuy commune has 1,770 households/5,865 people, and the lives of the people in Vinh Thuy largely depend on agriculture. The desire to have more children is still deeply ingrained in the local population. Even well- off families want to have more children, especially couples who have only daughters and wish to have a son to continue the family lineage.

The rate of women of reproductive age accepting and using contraceptives is limited, and the rate of gynecological infections is high. Furthermore, the provision of services is shifting towards social marketing, and the high cost of technical services makes advocacy difficult... Therefore, population work in the commune faces many challenges.

To improve the quality of the population, Vinh Thuy commune has incorporated population and family planning targets into its socio-economic development plan. Political and social organizations actively integrate population-related activities and goals into their unit's activities. Under the direction of the Party Committee and local government, the Commune Population Committee has advised the Commune People's Committee on developing guiding documents for annual activity plans, plans for various programs and projects, plans for World Population Day (July 11th), Vietnam Population Day (December 26th), etc., and has included population targets in the performance evaluation criteria of various departments, agencies, and organizations.

The commune health station coordinates the organization of communication classes for all residents and influential people in the community on topics such as: healthcare for the elderly, gender imbalance at birth, pre-marital health counseling, and resolutions and directives from the province and district on population work in the new situation. Leveraging their role, the team of collaborators in the commune actively engages in communication, advocacy, and counseling on reproductive health care/family planning.

Thanks to effective implementation, population programs and projects in the commune have achieved significant results. Specifically in 2024, the commune's health station organized communication campaigns on prenatal and postnatal screening for women on International Women's Day (March 8th), Vietnamese Women's Day (October 20th), and during population and family planning campaigns; paying attention to three prenatal checkups during pregnancy to detect and intervene early in cases of fetal abnormalities or high-risk cases.

As a result, 54 pregnant mothers received prenatal screening counseling, and 13 newborns had heel prick blood samples taken for testing. In addition, mothers also received advice on services from social resources. The integrated communication campaign providing reproductive health/family planning services in the commune was successfully implemented.

The commune's Population Committee developed a plan to implement communication activities, assigned areas of responsibility to committee members, and set specific targets for collaborators in each area. The campaign achieved and exceeded the targets set by the district, attracting 168 visits for examinations; providing pre-marital health check-up counseling for 12 cases, and prenatal screening counseling for 26 cases.

To improve the health and well-being of the elderly in the locality, the commune effectively maintains the "Elderly Helping the Elderly" club model in Thuy Ba Ha village, and in 2024 launched another "Elderly Helping the Elderly" club in Thuy Ba Tay village. The commune organizes volleyball matches and cultural and health-promoting activities for the clubs; and conducts communication conferences on elderly health care throughout the commune.

Furthermore, the commune actively communicates to young people the benefits of pre-marital health checkups. Thanks to effective propaganda and mobilization efforts, the awareness of the people in the commune has been increasingly raised, and they actively participate in implementing population activities, programs, and projects, contributing to achieving and exceeding the targets and plans on population and family planning in the locality. Specifically in 2024, the commune maintained a natural population growth rate below 0.8%. Reduced the birth rate by 0.15‰. Reduced the rate of third or subsequent births by 1.25%. The sex ratio at birth was 109 boys/100 girls. The rate of contraceptive use exceeded 90%.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhu My, a population officer in Vinh Thuy commune, said: “To maintain good population work in the coming time, the commune's health and population sector has proposed solutions such as: Strengthening propaganda and mobilization of the people to implement population and family planning policies. Innovating forms and improving the quality of communication through all means such as leaflets, billboards, and the public address system.”

Closely coordinate with relevant departments, agencies, and organizations to implement communication activities tailored to each target group, aiming to mobilize broad social participation. Provide timely access to non-clinical contraceptive methods for target groups. Advise and encourage target groups to practice family planning at the health station.

The commune health station regularly provides reproductive health and family planning services to target groups. It advises and guides pregnant mothers to attend prenatal checkups at the appropriate times, ensuring 100% of pregnant mothers receive counseling on prenatal and newborn screening programs. The implementation of the "Socialization of providing contraceptive methods and family planning/reproductive health services in urban and developed rural areas" project continues.

Ngoc Trang

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/lam-tot-cong-tac-dan-so-o-vinh-thuy-192924.htm