Nghe An: Nearly 6 billion VND in support for poor ethnic minority women to comply with population policy

(Baonghean) - Since 2015, the Government has issued Decree No. 39/2015/ND-CP stipulating support policies for poor ethnic minority women when giving birth in accordance with population policies. The Decree, when put into practice, has made an important contribution to promoting and motivating population work in mountainous areas and helping to implement population policies more effectively.

The family of Ms. Bui Thi Phuong, Hua Muong village, Hanh Dich commune (Que Phong) is one of the first families to be recommended for rewards under Decree No. 39. Her family has 2 children. In the past, many people advised her to have more children, because the Thai people often want to have many children to make the family happy and have more labor force. However, she and her husband thought differently. Life was still difficult, she did not want her children to suffer from lack of food and clothing.

Undeterred by the conservative and backward thinking of a part of the surrounding community, Ms. Phuong's family is still determined to "give birth to 2 children to raise them well". Recently, her family was awarded 2,000,000 VND for doing well in population and family planning work. Although the amount is not large, it helps her have more money to buy books for her children when the new school year begins, and is also a source of encouragement for the couple to be more confident in their decision.

People of Que Phong district learn about population policy. Photo: My Ha

The thoughts of Ms. Phuong's family are also the thoughts of many other people in Hanh Dich commune and that has contributed significantly to making Hanh Dich a bright spot in implementing population work in Que Phong district. Currently, although the people's lives here still face many difficulties and the intellectual level of the people is still limited, there are many villages in the commune that have not had a third child for a long time. Notably, Pa Kim village has had no violators for 20 consecutive years; Pa Co village, Cham village, Mut village, Hua Muong village have all been commended for 3-5 consecutive years. Hanh Dich is also one of two communes in Que Phong district that is being prepared to propose the Provincial People's Committee to award a Certificate of Merit for its many achievements in population work.

In the whole Que Phong district, following Decision No. 39, there are over 500 cases of commendation with a total amount of over 1 billion VND and is the locality with the largest number of commended people in the province. Que Phong is also one of the two localities with the lowest rate of third or more children in Nghe An with a birth rate of about 8% and each year about 60% of villages and hamlets have no violators.

Sharing about the results achieved, Ms. Sam Thi Hanh - Director of the District Population and Family Planning Center said: "Although it is a mountainous district with a majority of ethnic minorities, people's awareness of population work has increasingly changed positively and that is an important factor to reduce the number of third children.

The implementation process also shows that, due to the specific difficulties, Que Phong district does not have many policies for units and individuals who do well in population work, and even has to adjust the reward level. In this situation, the State's timely support for households to properly implement population policies is extremely important and has practical value, further strengthening population work at the grassroots level."

To implement the support, the Provincial People's Committee assigned the Department of Health, the Department of Finance, the Department of Population - Family Planning and the People's Committees of districts, towns and cities to perform tasks according to their functions to ensure the support is complete and accurate.

Women in Quy Hop district learn about population policy. Photo: My Ha

In Thanh Chuong district, although only two communes, Ngoc Lam and Thanh Son - the resettlement communes of Ban Ve hydropower reservoir, were paid, the implementation was very systematic, objective and accurate. In Ngoc Lam commune, the payment was also carried out in parallel with the signing of a written commitment not to have more children, and if violated, the received support funds must be returned.

Mr. Nguyen Hien Ngoc - Director of Thanh Chuong District Population Center also said: "Ngoc Lam Commune is the first commune in Thanh Chuong District that has no one violating the third child birth regulation in 2016. From this result, the district hopes that through the commitment of households, in 2017 and the following years, Ngoc Lam will still be a bright spot in the district's population work".

Assessing the effectiveness of the implementation of Decree No. 39, Mr. Nguyen Ba Tan - Head of the Provincial Department of Population and Family Planning affirmed: "The issuance of Decree No. 39 will contribute to improving the lives and health of ethnic minorities. At the same time, it is a driving force in promoting the implementation of the Population and Family Planning policy, especially in difficult areas where the intellectual level of the people is still limited."

However, due to the large area, up to this point, the number of localities that have completed the payment is not much. The implementation process also shows that, although the list has been made, the number fluctuates quite a lot. To effectively implement the policy under Decree 39 of the Government, in the coming time, localities need to pay attention to directing and assigning specific responsibilities to the People's Committees of communes, branches and unions to review, grasp, and make accurate statistics, avoiding missing beneficiaries; create specific records for each subject, with women's commitments to giving birth in accordance with the population policy to enjoy the regime in accordance with regulations. In addition, it is necessary to promote propaganda and mobilize women to comply with the population policy and regularly monitor, ensuring that payments are made to the right people, the right subjects, objectively and honestly.

My Ha