The proposed level of support for women giving birth is only 1-1.5% of the cost of raising a child.

Discussing the Population Law Project on the afternoon of November 10, National Assembly deputies said that there needs to be a solution to improve the problem of Vietnam's birth rate being below the replacement level since 2022. It is forecasted that by 2050, the birth rate will decrease to 1.63 and by 2100 to 1.38. Along with the declining birth rate, population aging will be a big challenge for Vietnam in the period 2026 - 2045 and in the 21st century.

The proposed support level for women giving birth is only 1-1.5 times the cost of raising a child, image 1

Delegate Nguyen Thien Nhan, Ho Chi Minh City delegation (Photo: National Assembly)

According to delegate Nguyen Thien Nhan, Ho Chi Minh City delegation, the Population Law project will determine the country's development in the coming years, because the risk of aging and population decline needs to be resolved soon. However, the solutions proposed in the draft Population Law 2025 are not enough to ensure a stable replacement level of fertility in Vietnam, so the risk of fertility continuing to decline.

“The draft impact assessment report proposes solutions to maintain the replacement birth rate, including: women get an additional month of maternity leave and receive 6.2 million VND; fathers get 5 more days off and receive 695,000 VND; women who give birth to a second child before the age of 35 are awarded 2 million VND; low birth rate areas are supported with 2 million VND; ethnic minority women giving birth are supported with 2 million VND. Thus, in total, a woman giving birth can receive a maximum support of about 13 million VND/birth,” said the delegate of Ho Chi Minh City delegation.

While the current average regional minimum wage in the country is about 4 million VND, it is only enough to sustain the life of a worker. But to raise a child from birth to adulthood at the age of 18, it takes at least 900 million VND. Therefore, the maximum support for women giving birth as proposed in the draft is only equal to 1-1.5% of the cost of raising a child.

From this reality, delegate Nguyen Thien Nhan said: "It is necessary to emphasize the viewpoint that population work is all for the happiness of the people, for the rapid and sustainable development of the country, for the longevity of the nation, not trading high economic growth for reducing birth rate".

The government must publish the salary that 1 working person must be able to support 1 child; 2 working people must be able to support 2 children.

"This should be considered a mandatory regulation that business owners must ensure for their employees," delegate Nguyen Thien Nhan suggested, suggesting the implementation roadmap could take 5-10 years.

The difficult problem of population aging and increasing birth rate needs to be solved

Explaining and clarifying the opinions raised by National Assembly deputies, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan said that one of the fundamental changes when drafting the law is to shift from population and family planning policy to population and development.

The proposed support level for women giving birth is only 1-1.5 times the cost of raising a child, image 2

Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan explained to the National Assembly on the afternoon of November 10 (Photo: National Assembly)

The goal is to create a legal basis for implementing population policies at a new level. The provisions of the Population Law reflect that spirit when the Government designed the scope of the law with 6 policy groups, including: maintaining replacement fertility; minimizing gender imbalance at birth; adapting to population aging and aging population; improving population quality; strengthening communication, advocacy, education on population and ensuring conditions during implementation.

In the spirit of the framework law, detailed regulations on subjects, scope, and resources for implementation will be prescribed by the Government in accordance with each stage of socio-economic development.

According to Minister Dao Hong Lan, in terms of resources, we need to look at both the short-term and long-term. To invest in population policy, solve population aging and increase the replacement fertility rate, we need huge resources. For example, Japan and South Korea have spent huge economic packages to solve the problem of population aging and increase the birth rate. However, to achieve the set goal, it is still an extremely challenging problem.

"We believe that there needs to be participation and synchronous coordination of all ministries, departments and branches," the Minister emphasized.

Shift from treatment to proactive disease prevention, taking people as the center

Regarding the draft Law on Disease Prevention, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan said that through reviewing Vietnam's legal system, the Minister found that there are 63 laws with regulations related to the field of disease prevention and health promotion.

The proposed support level for women giving birth is only 1-1.5 times the cost of raising a child, image 3

Overview of the discussion session on the afternoon of November 10 (Photo: National Assembly)

The Minister gave an example: the group of regulations directly related to the health sector includes 10 laws, including the Law on Protection of People's Health from 1989; the group of regulations related to health care includes 22 laws; the group related to factors affecting health includes 15 laws, such as the Law on Environmental Protection, the Law on Natural Resources, the Land Law... Therefore, to institutionalize the regulations on disease prevention work according to the Party's viewpoint, issued in Resolution No. 20 and Resolution No. 72 of the Politburo, it is necessary to review carefully.

Minister Dao Hong Lan emphasized that the focus of the Law on Disease Prevention is: "Shifting from disease treatment to proactive disease prevention, taking people as the center, lifelong disease prevention, early and remote disease prevention".

According to the Minister, in the process of drafting the Law, the Government focused on the scope of regulation with the key contents of the Law project, including: the issue of preventing and controlling infectious diseases; the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases; mental health disorders; other risk factors; nutritional issues in disease prevention; and conditions to ensure disease prevention.

“The Ministry of Health also identified this as a framework law, outlining basic principles and policies related to disease prevention, while specialized laws will be specified in detail in separate laws, decrees and circulars,” said Minister Dao Hong Lan.

Regarding 22 opinions of National Assembly deputies speaking at the hall and opinions at the group discussion session, Minister Dao Hong Lan said that with the spirit of receptiveness and the highest responsibility, the Ministry of Health will absorb to fully demonstrate the directions of the Party Central Committee, the National Assembly and the opinions of National Assembly deputies in the draft Law; at the same time, closely coordinate with the National Assembly's appraisal agency to review, absorb, explain and report to the Government before submitting to the National Assembly for approval.

Finally, the Health Sector Commander hopes that National Assembly delegates will support the draft Population Law and Disease Prevention Law to be passed at the 10th Session of the 15th National Assembly.

Reporter Group/VOV.VN

Source: https://vov.vn/xa-hoi/muc-ho-tro-de-xuat-cho-phu-nu-sinh-con-chi-bang-1-15-chi-phi-nuoi-mot-tre-post1244917.vov