Hanoi promotes prenatal screening to improve population quality

Hanoi aims to have 85 percent of pregnant women taken prenatal screening by 2020 as part of efforts to raise the quality of its population.

The same project for the 2016-2020 period also targets to screen 80 percent of newborn babies in a bid to early detect and treat innate deformities and cardiovascular illness.

Over the past three years, the city has implemented a similar project in a number of districts, which has helped raise the awareness of the importance of prenatal and newborn screening among local authorities, healthcare workers and residents alike.

The targeted areas under the project are the districts of Quoc Oai, Chuong My, Tay Ho, Long Bien, Ba Vi, Ung Hoa, Phuc Tho, Thuong Tin.

The rate of taking prenatal screening among expectant mothers has almost doubled from 40.36 percent in 2012 to an estimated 70 percent by 2015, while that among newborn babies nearly quadrupling from 20.21 percent to 80 percent in the period.

Nguyen Van Tan, Deputy Director of the Hanoi General Department of Population and Family Planning hailed the project’s outcomes, saying that they are expected to contribute to improve the quality of capital population in the coming time.

The official also suggested that Hanoi develop a more effective procedure, expand targeted areas and strengthen the application of technology in the process.

The services should be also covered by health insurance, he added.