Family planning sector urged to improve local level efforts

Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien urged the General Department of Population and Family Planning to improve its services at the local level while attending a conference in Hanoi on January 20.
Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien urged the General Department ofPopulation and Family Planning to improve its services at the locallevel while attending a conference in Hanoi on January 20.

The official hailed the sector’s 2014 efforts to reduce the birth rateby 0.01 percent and have a ratio of 112.2 boys per 100 girls, comparedto 112.5 boys in 2013.

The department successfullymanaged its human resources and called for assistance from theGovernment, localities, organisations, and individuals to ensure socialwelfares across the country, Deputy Head Nguyen Van Tan said.

However, restrictions remain, such as low wages for collaborativestaff and a reduction in its communications budget, affecting theoutcomes of population and family planning programmes.

Looking forward, Minister Tien asked the department to providehigh-quality family planning services and popularise measures againstunplanned pregnancy.

In 2015, the sector aims toreduce the crude birth rate by 0.01 percent and increase the rate ofpregnant women receiving prenatal health check-ups to 15 percent fromthe current 10 percent.

The department proposed theGovernment increase its investment in population-related work and ratifythe gender imbalance control project between 2014 and 2020 whileadopting policies to support impoverished ethnic minority women andcalling for international assistance in the field.-VNA

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