Nghe An population work and innovation, adaptation, and effectiveness

Looking back at 2021, Nghe An Newspaper interviewed Dr. Nguyen Ba Tan - Head of the Provincial Department of Population and Family Planning.Interview with Nghe An Newspaper.

PV:Sir, over the past year, the Covid-19 pandemic has affected many aspects of socio-economic life. So, how has the provincial Population Department made efforts to successfully complete its tasks?

Doctor CKII Nguyen Ba Tan:2021 is indeed a difficult year when the pandemicCovid-19 epidemicvery complex and unpredictable developments

Consulting on population policy implementation for people in Tuong Duong district. Photo: MH

In Vietnam, the fourth outbreak caused by the rapidly spreading Delta variant has had a major impact on all aspects of economic and social life, and population work is not exempt from the negative impacts of the pandemic. For more than half of the first half of 2021, many communication, counseling, and health care programs for adolescents and youth; programs providing reproductive health care services for women in disadvantaged areas and industrial zones; training courses on population work; and the implementation of programs and projects... were affected.

In addition, the Health Target Program funding -Populationhave cut back on many activities and only provide a few family planning devices. This difficulty has greatly affected the implementation of activities, especially at the grassroots level.

Faced with that situation, Nghe An Population Department still strives to adapt. An advantage for the department is that since 2020, the Department has consulted on two very important projects.

Propaganda about population policy for people in Do Luong district. Photo: MH

These are: Project "Training to improve the quality of civil servants and public employees working on population in Nghe An province, period 2020 - 2025"; Project "Innovation and improvement of the quality of communication on population in Nghe An province, period 2020 - 2025". With 2 projects as a premise, in early 2021, the Government issued 8 programs such as: Adjusting reasonable birth rates between regions, program to improve family planning services, program to care for the elderly...

In addition to these programs, the Department issued 6 plans for the province's population work in the new period. This is a "stick" for the Population sector in particular and the Health sector in general when organizing activities.

PV:Before the pandemic, how did the Population sector adapt to effectively implement its programs?

Doctor CKII Nguyen Ba Tan:We all know that the main task of population is propaganda, mobilization, and consultation. If done directly, the picture will be very vivid. However, when the epidemic broke out, we adapted and immediately applied 4.0 technology. Specifically, the Department has promoted communication activities about population and health on social networking sites such as Facebook, Zalo, Tiktok,...

Mr. Nguyen Ba Tan - Provincial Department of Population and Family Planning awarded prizes at the Women's Contest on population work in the new situation. Photo: MH

These channels have become the industry's quick and effective channels for information and propaganda on population and health policies and activities.

Up to now, 100% of population - health officials of 461 communes, wards and towns; 100% of health centers of districts, cities and towns in Nghe An province have Facebook accounts to propagate population - health of the unit; units from commune to district have close connection with the Provincial Department of Population - Family Planning through the Facebook account "Nghe An Population" and health - population communication information pages. This is a modern propaganda channel, capable of interacting and spreading to a large number of people.

We are also very happy because although the human resources of the Population sector are very thin, last year there were many changes in the population collaborators in villages, hamlets, blocks, and hamlets, but the propaganda work of the Population sector has been highly appreciated by the Health sector because it is applied the fastest, most effectively, most enthusiastically, most widely and most evenly at all times.

In the context of the epidemic, Nghe An Population Department still has many forms of propaganda. Photo: MH

PV:It is known that, besides the achievements, Nghe An population work is also facing many difficulties and challenges, especially the third child birth rate continues to increase. Many opinions say that one of the reasons is that in the past, there were still some officials and party members violating population policy and this has affected propaganda and mobilization work; can you tell us more about this?

Doctor CKII Nguyen Ba Tan:Speaking of having a third child, it must be said that in Nghe An in particular and in some localities with high birth rates, this is a very difficult problem. Currently, the birth rate in Nghe An is 2.68 children. The main reason is that many people in Nghe An still have the "old way" of thinking, wanting to have a son to continue the family line and there are many ways for them to do so, even though the law strictly prohibits gender selection at birth.

In cases of having a third child, there are still some officials, party members, knowledgeable citizens with influence in society. Although these cases only account for 5%, violating population policy and not being a good example will lead to negative impacts on propaganda and mobilization work.

PV:In the new situation, what solutions will the Population sector propose to implement tasks for 2022?

Doctor CKII Nguyen Ba Tan:The population indicators that have not met expectations are something that the population workers are extremely concerned about. Therefore, in 2022 and the following years, the whole industry still determines that the population program must still go "on two legs".

In particular, the first “leg” is to reduce births to ensure population size, controlling the population growth target to no more than 1.2% from now until 2025. To do so, it is necessary to promote family planning for nearly 1 million women of childbearing age by means of propaganda and socialization of contraceptive means and enhancing family planning services so that all people in all regions can benefit.

Golden Bell Contest to learn about reproductive health - VTN, TH in Thanh Chuong district. Photo: Duc Anh

The second “leg” is that we must continue to improve the quality of the population. In particular, we must start from the first task, which is to promote prenatal and newborn screening to ensure that women give birth to healthy children. Furthermore, we need to improve reproductive health and family planning health right from secondary school, avoiding “mistakes” such as premarital sex, unwanted pregnancy, etc.

We also care about the health of women of reproductive age, because healthy women give birth to healthy children, healthy families and healthy society. This is also the slogan that the entire Population sector is aiming for.

PV:Thank you!