Nghe An spreads model points on population work

Many challenges

Up to this point, Nghe An is one of the 10 provinces with the highest birth rate in the country. In particular, currently, the birth rate of the third child or more in Nghe An is still high and has not reached the replacement birth rate.

This requires population work to face many difficulties, especially when Nghe An is currently carrying out two parallel tasks, which are population - family planning and population & development.

Organizing a group counseling session on reproductive health care for people of childbearing age in Hung Trung commune (Hung Nguyen). Photo: PV

Specifically, according to the report of the General Department of Population and Family Planning, in the first 6 months of the year, all indicators increased compared to the same period last year. Of which, the whole province had 23,658 children born, an increase of 302 children, the number of children born as the third child or more was 5,722 children, an increase of 307 children compared to 2019. Currently, the birth rate of the third child or more is at a very high level of 24.2%, an increase of 1.1% over the same period, the gender imbalance rate at birth is also very worrying with 114 boys/100 girls.

With these results, it is estimated that from now until the end of the year, to achieve the set targets, there will still be many difficulties, especially the target of reducing the birth rate of the third child or more. Nghe An is also facing many difficulties in reducing births because the current population size of the province is large and is basically agricultural residents, farmers, and rural areas - where the custom of having many children is heavily carried on.

Media response to World Population Day 2020. Photo: PV

Talking about the difficulties of reducing birth rate, Mr. Hoang Dinh Tung - Director of the Center for Population - Family Planning of Quynh Luu district said: In the first 6 months of the year, the population growth rate in our area increased dramatically from 24% (in 2019) to nearly 35% (in 2020).

This has many different causes but mainly due to customs because Quynh Luu is a coastal district with many special communes, so the general mentality of the people still wants to have many children. Besides, in recent years, propaganda and mobilization have become increasingly difficult when some population policies have been loosened.

In Dien Chau district, Ms. Tran Thi Luong - Director of the district's Population and Family Planning Center said: In the first 6 months of the year, some important indicators of the district such as crude birth rate, natural population growth rate decreased and the sex ratio at birth also decreased compared to the same period from 115 boys/100 girls to 108 boys/100 girls.

However, it is still difficult to reduce the rate of having a third child or more when this rate is over 30%. Sadly, there are still many cadres and party members who violate population policies and many families still want to have many children, especially those with good economic conditions.

“Recently, the population work of the province has been affected when in many localities, cadres, civil servants, public employees, and population collaborators were disrupted after the policy of merging the Population - Family Planning Centers..., affecting common activities. In addition, another important reason is the adjustment of a number of Population - Family Planning policies in the province, leading to many people, even cadres and party members, not understanding correctly about limiting the birth of the third child or more. This has also greatly affected the effectiveness of propaganda, mobilization and implementation of population policies at the grassroots level.

Mr. Nguyen Ba Tan - Head of the Department of Population and Family Planning

With the above difficulties, the celebration of World Population Day on July 11, 2020 is also an opportunity to remind all sectors, levels, organizations and people to make efforts to implement the Population - Family Planning (FP) policy. At the same time, propose programs and solutions to intervene in reducing birth rates to improve population quality, build small, happy families and develop sustainably.

To achieve the above goals, in recent years, many localities in the province have had good and effective ways of doing things. In Hung Nguyen district, with the characteristics of a purely agricultural district and limited financial conditions, the district has advocated improving the effectiveness of communication activities to effectively carry out population work at the grassroots level.

Population collaborators of Luc Da commune (Con Cuong) promote the building of hamlets and villages with no people having a third or more child. Photo: Cong Kien

The most prominent of these is maintaining regular communication activities in the area through a radio system that broadcasts periodically every morning and afternoon, and through slogans, billboards, and posters brought to each village and hamlet.

Hung Nguyen District is also the leading locality in the province in promoting communication through social networking sites and has now become a vibrant and effective movement in population work. The district has also promoted communication integrated with specific activities such as being proactive in coordinating with departments and branches to carry out the assigned tasks.

In particular, due to the sector's limited funding, the unit has made the most of the capacity of units with funding to coordinate the implementation of activities. For example, the district has promoted the role of the team of commune population officials and collaborators to become agents of the Social Insurance agency in mobilizing people to participate in health insurance and unemployment insurance.

Leaders of the Provincial Department of Population and Family Planning visited the reproductive health care service model in Hung Tay commune (Hung Nguyen). Photo: My Ha

Thanks to that, by the end of 2019, the center had collected more than 3 billion VND and allocated more than 200 million VND to pay, support additional income for the staff, population collaborators and have more funding to support activities from the district to the grassroots. For specific areas, the district annually develops a plan that is close to the local reality. On that basis, it is flexible in the way of doing, mobilizing and implementing so that population programs reach the right subjects and meet the needs of the majority of people.

In Thanh Chuong district, for many years the district has been a bright spot in life skills education and reproductive health care in schools. To do that, the district has introduced the “life skills education and reproductive health care” club model into all high schools in the area.

In addition, every year, dozens of talks and competitions on reproductive health care knowledge are held for secondary schools and this is considered a form of life skills education in schools.

For many years now, we have identified the youth (adolescents and young adults) as the root of the population and family planning problem. Therefore, to change, we must innovate communication work, communication objects and provide adequate knowledge about life skills and reproductive health for this group. In the long term, paying attention to the youth will also reduce costs to the lowest level and achieve the highest efficiency for population and family planning work in the new situation.

Mr. Nguyen Hien Ngoc - Director of Thanh Chuong District Population and Family Planning Center.

Good, practical and effective models also show the efforts of Nghe An Population Department in recent times and make Nghe An a bright spot of the country in implementing population communication activities - family planning.

Highly appreciating the efforts of the province, Mr. Dinh Huy Duong - Director of the Department of Communication - Education, General Department of Population - Family Planning also affirmed: "Despite difficulties and specific characteristics, Nghe An's population activities are still being implemented vigorously, practically, regularly and especially "knowing how to choose priority issues, knowing how to seize opportunities".

We also believe that with the efforts and participation of all levels and sectors, Nghe An's population work will have positive changes in the coming time. In particular, the most important task is to invest in the goal of reducing birth rate, stabilizing population size and structure, improving population quality, and providing high-quality human resources to serve the socio-economic development of the province."