Representatives from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and local population officers have gathered in the northern province of Hoa Binh to share their visions on addressing gender imbalance at birth in Vietnam .

At a workshop jointly held by the General Department of Population and Family Planning and the UN Population Fund in Vietnam from November 3-4, the participants discussed pathways, plans and activities to solve the problem.

They also analysed the increasing sex ratio at birth and socio-cultural factors that affect the gender imbalance in the country.

Vietnam ’s sex ratio at birth has rapidly increased in recent years from 105 boys per 100 girls in 1979 to 110.5 boys per 100 girls in 2009, making it one of the few countries in the world seeing a high gender imbalance at birth.

If there are no positive measures, the gender imbalance will cause serious social implications, especially for future generations, the delegates said.

Over the past years, Vietnam has taken a lot of measures to control the gender imbalance, including the implementation of the “interventions to minimise the gender imbalance at birth” project in 18 provinces and cities where the sex ratio at birth is 110 boys per 100 girls upwards./.