Nghe An needs to continue improving the capacity of the child health care network.

Care for children's health

At the meeting, representatives of Nghe An Department of Health clearly reported on the implementation of health care work.childrenin the province in the period 2021 - 2024. Accordingly: By the end of 2023, Nghe An has 920,436 children under 16 years old (accounting for 25.9% of the population), the total number of children under 6 years old is 425,340 children (accounting for 11.9% of the population).

In recent years, health care for children in Nghe An has been increasingly focused on. The health care network system has been expanded and upgraded from the province to the grassroots, creating favorable conditions for health care forchildrenbetter.

Up to now, 100% of communes and wards (460/460) have midwives; 100% of children under 6 years old are provided with health insurance and have their health managed through a maternal and child health monitoring book; every year, children receive regular health check-ups.

The program to prevent and combat malnutrition for children under 5 years old and the program to care for maternal and child health have been directed by the Provincial People's Committee, departments, agencies, unions and authorities at all levels. Therefore, the rate of malnourished children in Nghe An has decreased by 0.3-0.5% annually.

However, at this time, the rate of malnourished children under 5 years old in Nghe An is still higher than the national average. Specifically: the rate of malnourished children under 5 years old with underweight is 12.4%, and stunted malnutrition is 23.2%.

To better implement child health care, in the coming time, Nghe An will continue to promote medical activities towards developing nutrition and health care for children according to Directive No. 28-CT/TW dated December 25, 2023 of the Politburo on strengthening child care, education and protection to meet the requirements of developing a prosperous and happy country.

Along with that, promote the implementation of the National Action Program for Children for the period 2021 - 2030; Program "Nutritional care in the first 1,000 days of life to prevent and combat malnutrition in mothers and children, improve the stature of Vietnamese people"; Program "Intervention to reduce mortality of children under 5 years old by 2030".

Nghe An province also proposed that the Government, ministries, departments and branches continue to review and develop policies to increase human resources for maternal and child health care at the grassroots level; including specific policies to attract medical staff in the field of maternal and child health care to work in disadvantaged areas and areas with high child mortality rates.

Support training of medical staff specializing in obstetrics and pediatrics for mountainous areas and ethnic minority areas; invest in upgrading facilities and equipment for provincial and district hospitals; support funding and resources, and strengthen information and communication work on child injury prevention.

More attention to remote areas

At the meeting, members of the Central interdisciplinary working group highly appreciated the results of implementing policies and laws on child health care in Nghe An province.

In his concluding remarks, Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan stated: Nghe An has paid attention to directing and organizing the implementation of solutions, contents, activities, and professional interventions to improve children's health. Departments, branches, and sectors in the province have closely coordinated in protecting, educating, nurturing, and taking care of children's health.

The province has also focused on mobilizing and integrating resources to create the best conditions for children to receive comprehensive care and development; there has been a focus on developing the health network from commune, district and provincial levels, including specialties and fields of medical examination, treatment and health care for children.

However, Nghe An is also a locality with many mountainous, remote, and extremely disadvantaged districts and communes. In these areas, child health and nutrition indicators are lower than in other regions; lower than the national average.

The Deputy Minister of Health hopes that in the coming time, Nghe An province will continue to consolidate, improve and enhance the capacity of the entire child health care network from the province to districts and communes; focus on improving technical expertise, arranging enough pediatric specialists for medical facilities at all levels; ensuring policies to attract specialists to work long-term in mountainous, remote and isolated areas.

At the same time, the province also needs to continue to increase investment, ensure finance and budget for child health care activities; effectively implement the contents and activities of programs and projects: Nutrition for the first 1,000 days of life, improving child nutrition, periodic health check-ups for children, school meals, Intervention program to reduce mortality in children under 5 years old by 2030... Actively carry out information, communication and health education activities to improve knowledge, change attitudes and behaviors of people about child health care.

Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan also expressed his confidence: With the attention and direction of the provincial leaders, the synchronous coordination of departments and branches, along with the support of central ministries, departments and branches, the work of protecting, caring for and educating children in Nghe An will become more and more effective, helping children develop comprehensively in all aspects, becoming high-quality resources for society in the future.

The working group also recorded recommendations and proposals related to child health care in Nghe An province to forward to competent authorities for resolution.