Nghe An is one of the 10 provinces with the highest birth rates in the country.

Resolution No. 170/2015/NQ-HĐND dated July 10, 2015, of the People's Council of Nghe An Province, stipulating a number of population and family planning policies in Nghe An Province, came into effect in 2015 and has had a positive impact on the province's population work. However, after 5 years of implementation, some policies also need to be adjusted to suit new requirements and tasks.

"A foundation" for population work.

Compared to many other localities, Nghi Loc district faces numerous challenges in population management due to its unique characteristics, particularly with nearly 50% of its population residing in special, coastal areas. However, in the past five years, the implementation of population and family planning targets has yielded positive results.

Leaders of the Population and Family Planning Department and the Vinh City People's Committee present gifts to families implementing population policies. Photo: My Ha.

Specifically, while the birth rate across the district was 20.4‰ in 2015, it decreased to 16.8‰ in 2019; the rate of having a third child or more decreased from 23.8% in 2015 to 23.4% in 2019; the annual population growth rate remained stable at 1-1.2%; the percentage of couples accepting modern contraceptive methods increased from 56.1% in 2015 to 57.8% in 2019; the sex ratio at birth decreased from 123 males/100 females in 2015 to 109 males/100 females in 2019; and the percentage of people living along the coast with access to reproductive health/family planning services increased from 72.3% in 2015 to 90% in 2019. The number of villages with no one having a third child has been increasing over the years...

To achieve these results, Nghi Loc has been one of the districts that has done well in implementing population policies over the years, especially in investing to improve the effectiveness of programs. Accordingly, every year, the Party committees, local authorities, departments, mass organizations, and political and social organizations in the area have seriously implemented Resolution 170/2015/NQ-HĐND.

Residents of Yen Thanh district march to raise awareness about population policies. Photo: My Ha.

Mr. Vo Thanh Hai, Director of the Population/Family Planning Center of Nghi Loc district, said: “Resolution No. 17 on population policy is an important basis for us to implement programs and advise on solutions for population work in our district. Population and family planning targets are identified as one of the important indicators in socio-economic development and are linked to poverty reduction programs, building cultural blocks, hamlets, and villages, and the new rural development program.”

Notably, despite limited budget resources, the district and 100% of its communes allocate over 2 billion VND annually for population-related work. Some localities invest relatively heavily compared to others, such as Phuc Tho (175 million VND), Nghi Long (106 million VND), Nghi My (91 million VND), Nghi Tien (78 million VND), Nghi Phong (77 million VND), and Nghi Cong Nam (71 million VND). Each year, the district rewards villages and hamlets that effectively implement population policies and criticizes, reprimands, or revokes emulation titles for units that violate these policies.

A health education session on reproductive health for students in Quy Hop district. Photo: PV

Yen Thanh District is the first locality to have a policy of providing financial support for the construction of models aimed at stabilizing birth rates, reducing population growth rates, lowering the rate of third or subsequent births, and improving population quality, with a support level of 160 million VND/year. In addition, the district also has a policy of supporting hamlets and villages with no one having a third or subsequent birth, with a minimum support level of 2 million VND/year (for hamlets and villages that have consistently performed well in population policy for two consecutive years).

The support level will also increase annually, and from the sixth year onwards, for each consecutive year that a hamlet has no one giving birth to a third child or more, the support will increase by 1 million VND compared to the previous year. For hamlets with no one giving birth to a third child or more, the District People's Committee will award a Certificate of Commendation and provide 20,000,000 VND in support (equal to the support level of the Provincial People's Committee).

"Thanks to population policies, we have developed 11 models for reducing birth rates in recent times. In addition, expanding funding through support mechanisms and policies at the district, commune, and town levels has facilitated greater access to information and services related to reproductive health/family planning for people of reproductive age, creating public consensus."

Mr. Phan Quoc Tuan - Director of the Population and Family Planning Center of Yen Thanh District.

New, appropriate policies are needed.

Throughout the province, the implementation of population policies according to Resolution No. 170/2015/NQ-HĐND dated July 10, 2015, of the Provincial People's Council and other policies linked to localities has made a significant contribution to promoting and encouraging the population workforce in the province and bringing about positive changes in population work. However, the new policy also needs adjustments to suit the new circumstances, especially as the population sector is shifting its focus from Population - Family Planning to Population and Development, and Nghe An still faces many challenges and difficulties as it remains one of the 10 provinces with the highest birth rates in the country and has not yet reached replacement levels.

Regarding the shortcomings in the implementation of current population policies, the Population and Family Planning Department recently held a meeting to gather opinions on adjusting Resolution No. 170. Many opinions frankly stated that many policies are unreasonable and increasingly difficult to implement. Meanwhile, the incentive policies introduced by the province are insufficient to motivate and encourage local efforts.

Public awareness campaigns play a crucial role in population management. Photo: My Ha.

For example, rewarding neighborhoods and hamlets with no third births was previously the responsibility of the People's Councils of districts, cities, and towns to regulate; however, the reward levels varied from locality to locality and were quite low, with some localities not allocating funds at all or having their funding cut in the last two years. Significantly, a considerable number of neighborhoods and hamlets have recently merged, making the implementation of models without third or subsequent births even more difficult.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Ban, Director of the Population and Family Planning Center of Hung Nguyen District, stated: “In previous years, our district had about 80 hamlets and villages that did not have a third child. But this year, after merging more than 100 hamlets and villages, there are now fewer than 10 that have done well in implementing population policies. However, these units did not receive any awards last year. Therefore, I am very concerned that when some population policies are ‘loosened,’ the increase and explosion of third births will increase...”

Disseminating information about population policies to residents of Con Cuong district. Photo: My Ha

Previously, Hung Nguyen district had a community where no one had a third child for over 20 years, but last year there were violations, partly due to the lack of policies to encourage and motivate the entire government to participate.

Regarding rewards, many opinions also suggest that the current policy of encouraging communes to have no third births is unreasonable because this is a very difficult target to achieve (the number of communes meeting the criteria each year can be counted on the fingers of one hand). Therefore, the province needs to increase the reward level for units that perform well in population work.

“Currently, the blocks and hamlets have merged, and the workload of population collaborators has doubled or tripled compared to the previous period. Therefore, a support level of 0.1% of the basic salary is no longer appropriate. In addition, there should also be policies to encourage localities that maintain good control of the gender imbalance at birth, as this is a very important issue and the imbalance is tending to increase.”

Ms. Tran Thi Luong - Director of the Population and Family Planning Center of Dien Chau District.