Diverse and flexible forms of population communication
(Baonghean.vn) - Communication always plays a particularly important role in the work of Population and Development. In Nghe An, the communication work of the Population sector is organized in a diverse and flexible manner, targeting many different audiences to improve the effectiveness of propaganda work.
Diversified communication activities
30 years old and all those years carrying within me the diseaseThalassemia, but recently Ms. Vi Thi Xuyen - Lien Son village, Luc Da commune (Con Cuong district) has fully understood this disease. Due to her own circumstances, Ms. Xuyen has not yet married and has not dared to have children for fear that the child will not be healthy.
Speaking more about her illness, Ms. Xuyen said: I have had this disease since I was little but my family did not know to take me to the hospital for treatment. Currently, I only go to the hospital occasionally because the cost of travel is too difficult. If in the past, I had been fully informed, consulted and treated, my health would probably have improved a lot.
Ms. Vi Thi Xuyen was one of the first people to attend the media program in response to World Thalassemia Day recently organized by the Department of Population - Family Planning in Con Cuong district. The program lasted just over 1 hour, but was carried out with many contents such as showing a reportage about the dangers of Thalassemia, listening to an overview of the disease, prevention and treatment.
In particular, in this program, students from Con Cuong District Ethnic Minority Secondary School also gave presentations on two topics: "Learning about thalassemia" and "Enhancing information dissemination and access to services on thalassemia to contribute to improving the quality of the Vietnamese race".
To prepare well for their presentation, the students spent a lot of time and effort researching information about Thalassemia. In addition to learning from reputable sources and medical experts, the students also met with patients and their families to gain a deeper understanding of the difficulties they face every day.
Through the presentation, the students also sent many valuable messages to help people raise awareness and see the importance of health prevention and care in the community.
Con Cuong is still a mountainous district with many difficulties, the educational level of the people is uneven, the people's lives are still poor. Currently, in the area there are still some backward customs such as incestuous marriage, early marriage, child marriage, and teenage pregnancy are still quite common with an average of 30-35 cases of child marriage and teenage pregnancy each year.
In addition, according to statistics, in the district there are nearly 100 cases of anemia related to Thalssemia, mainly children in disadvantaged communes such as Mon Son, Luc Da, Binh Chuan, Mau Duc, Thach Ngan... The patients are mostly young, most of them have difficult circumstances, so there are few conditions for treatment, making the psychology and daily life of the patients increasingly tired, anxious, stressed...
In addition to those who have the disease, we believe that in the community there are many people who carry the disease gene but do not know that they carry the gene. That leads to the risk of two people carrying the Thalassemia gene marrying each other increasingly high and will negatively affect the quality of the population and the development of the race.
Therefore, the prevention and control of Thalassemia is extremely necessary and one of the first solutions that the locality focuses on is to promote propaganda work. Thereby, to raise awareness and sense of responsibility of Party committees, authorities, unions, social organizations, and people of all walks of life in preventing and fighting Thalassemia in the community.
Innovative approach
The communication program in response to World Thalassemia Day is one of many communication activities to contribute to improving population quality implemented annually by the Population sector.
If in the past, the organization was mainly in the form of launching and propaganda, now it is organized more diversely and richly with the participation of many departments, branches, many subjects and of many different ages. In parallel, the contents of the communication programs are also organized vividly in many forms such as dramatization, presentations, talks, and consultations.
In Quy Hop district, with the reality that population work still faces many difficulties, the district has promoted communication work through many different forms. Ms. Nguyen Thuy Hang - Head of Population Department, Quy Hop District Health Center said: At each time, we put forward a different topic, focusing on communication work to prevent early marriage, consanguineous marriage, propaganda on the effectiveness of prenatal screening, newborn screening, pre-marital health check-ups; propaganda, mobilizing cadres and people to effectively implement population policy and develop in the new situation.
In addition, we also focus on subjects that have a great impact on population quality such as adolescents, young people; men and women of childbearing and married age; pregnant women and newborns...
Through the implementation of population communication activities in Nghe An in recent years, it has also been shown that the diversification of mass media channels has been used quite effectively, especially the use of modern forms of communication such as internet consultation, electronic news sites, social networks, mobile phones and other means of communication. The sector also strengthens communication on news sites with many visitors, news sites that adolescents/young people, men and women of childbearing age like and are interested in.
Mr. Nguyen Huu Quang - Head of Population Communication Department - Provincial Department of Population - Family Planning, said: Currently, Nghe An is the leading locality in the country in communication work with many rich and diverse forms, targeting many audiences.
As in 2023, we organized more than 110 community consultation communication sessions with various contents such as adolescent and youth reproductive health, propaganda for the elderly and women. In addition, units from the province to the grassroots have also promoted communication on social networking sites such as Facebook, Zalo, TikTok, ... and considered this to be a channel for information and propaganda quickly and effectively of the industry on policies and activities of population and health. This is also a channel with the ability to interact and spread to a large number of people.
In the long term, identifying communication work as having an important role in changing behavior and raising awareness in the work of Population - Family Planning, the Provincial Department of Population - Family Planning always considers this a key task that needs to be carried out regularly. Thereby, in order to create consensus among the people in implementing population policy, reducing births, bringing the sex ratio at birth to a natural balance and improving population quality.
Compared to the whole country, population work in Nghe An still faces many difficulties and challenges. Therefore, in the coming time, the sector will continue to diversify the types and quality communication products on population and development, innovate in content and form. In addition, provide appropriate equipment and media for agencies, units and localities to carry out communication work on population and development, prioritizing grassroots levels and areas with high birth rates.
In addition, socio-political organizations, departments, branches and sectors also need to actively participate in communication on population and development; continue to build and effectively implement coordination programs, focus on building models and comprehensive communication activities on population and development contents.
