When catechists do population
We came to Nghi Hoa commune (Nghi Loc) when the District Center for Population and Family Planning (DS - KHHHGĐ) was implementing an integrated communication campaign to provide reproductive health care and family planning (SKSS/KHHHGĐ) services.
Located along Highway 34, Nghi Hoa has nearly 6,000 people with 60% of the population following Catholicism, of which the original religion accounts for about 55%. However, very early on, many women of childbearing age came to visit, treat gynecological diseases and practice family planning. In particular, many of them are Catholic women. A collaborator happily told us: "Currently, the awareness of women, especially women in religious areas, about reproductive health care/family planning has improved a lot compared to before. During the campaign implementation, the number of women coming to visit can reach nearly 80% of the total number of women of childbearing age in the commune".
To achieve this result, we must mention the great contribution of the population workers. In particular, there is the team of collaborators in the religious areas - they are both active in developing the family economy and enthusiastic in social work, and most of them are veteran catechists who are very much loved by the parishioners.
Population collaborators in religious areas consult knowledge on reproductive health/family planning
Following Ms. Dang Thi Lien, a collaborator of Hau Hoa hamlet, who has 16 years of experience as a catechist, 7 years as the Women's Union Branch President and nearly 6 years of working in population work, she confided: "There were times when I was discouraged and wanted to quit my job because propagating and mobilizing people to implement family planning encountered many difficulties. With the wish to help families in the hamlet escape poverty, I still stick with this job. Luckily, I have a husband who always supports his wife in family work as well as social work. Many times when he is busy, he is the one who replaces me to propagate and mobilize couples to use contraceptive methods and participate in campaigns at the commune health station." Hau Hoa hamlet, where Ms. Lien is a collaborator, has 120 households with 538 people and 100% of the people are Catholic. Previously, women's awareness of reproductive health/mother and child care/family planning was very limited, so the implementation of modern contraceptive methods, especially clinical contraceptive methods, was very difficult. With perseverance, always closely following the area and the subjects, especially couples of childbearing age, in 2010, the rate of giving birth to a third child or more was 25%, a decrease of 6% compared to 2009. Notably, in this campaign, Hau Hoa hamlet had nearly 80% of women of childbearing age registering for gynecological examination and treatment.
As for Ms. Dang Thi Viet, a collaborator in Duc Thanh hamlet, she has a rather special form of propaganda. She advises and encourages people to use contraceptive methods not only during campaign deployments or directly at their households, but also at any time and any place. The distribution of non-clinical contraceptive methods to people is often done at markets or even while doing farm work.
With the ability to attract people with 4 years of experience as a catechist, she is very loved by the people. Ms. Viet herself is also a very exemplary person in implementing family planning. Both her paternal and maternal families have many children. Although she and her husband are Catholic, they only have two children, and they are all children of the same sex. For her, "the most important thing is how to raise children to be good people, having many children but not taking care of them is a sin".
It can be said that propagating and persuading people to change their way of thinking and awareness, especially in areas with a large number of Catholics, towards the Party and State's family planning campaign is an extremely difficult problem.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Xuan, a collaborator of Trung Thanh hamlet, said: "When meeting subjects, I often meet the wives privately, confide in them about the hardships of having many children, and then advise them on the most convenient contraceptive methods. In Trung Thanh hamlet alone, where Ms. Xuan is in charge, there are 180 households with nearly 1,000 people, 100% of whom are of the original religion. Previously, most couples had 7-8 children, at least 5-6 children. Since the beginning of 2011, in the area she manages, there has not been a pregnant woman with a third or more child.
After meeting and talking, we can see that the dedication and hard work of the women in population work is truly admirable. However, our biggest concern is that the allowance is too small compared to what they have contributed. We hope that in the coming time, the Party Committee and the government from the province to the grassroots level will pay more attention to the regime for the team of people working in population work at the grassroots level, especially the team of population collaborators in the remote areas.
T.Hien - K.Chung
