Vietnam’s population and development issues were discussed at theNational Workshop on South-South Cooperation in Population andDevelopment, in Hanoi on May 19.
The event wasjointly held by the Vietnamese Health Ministry and the Partner inPopulation and Development (PPD) organisation.
Addressing the opening ceremony, Deputy Health Minister, Doctor NguyenBa Thuy said Vietnam’s achievements in the population and familyplanning programme have reflected the Government’s commitments, effortsof the health and population sectors as well as other relevantministries and agencies from central to grassroots level in implementingthe International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD)Programme of Action and fulfilling the United Nations MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs).
The success of thepopulation and family planning programme has directly contributed toVietnam’s outstanding endeavours in reducing poverty, which have beenacknowledged by the international community, she said.
The Party and State of Vietnam always devotes a strong commitment torealising targets set out in the ICPD Programme of Action adopted in1994, and to achieving the MDGs, the deputy minister said.
PPD Executive Director Harry S. Jooseery said he was impressed byVietnam’s gains in reducing its population growth rate to 1.2 percent,achieving a birth rate of 2.3 children per family and strongly reducingthe newborn mortality rate, although Vietnam is the third mostpopulous country in Southeast Asia .
Jooseeryexpressed his hope that other issues regarding sexual health, juvenilehealth, gender rate at birth and differences between localities will besuccessfully dealt with in the future.
InSeptember, 2009, Vietnam became the 25th member of PPD, aninter-governmental organisation set up during the InternationalConference on Population Development (ICPD) meeting in Cairo in1994, dedicated to the promotion of South-South partnerships and theobjectives of the ICPD Programme of Action to fulfil MDGs.
PPD now covers 25 countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and theMiddle East, representing more than 57 percent of global population.
This is the first time Vietnam has conducted the National Workshop on South-South in Population and Development./.