Nghe An: Flexibility in population communication work

Effective models

It has become a tradition, the meetingClubThe "Young Family" of the women in Lang Yen village, Mon Son commune (Con Cuong) always attracts a large number of women in the village to participate. This is also one of the activities that has been maintained stably, although last year the implementation of contents related to population work encountered many difficulties due to the impact of the epidemic. Coming to this meeting, the women in the village shared many contents about building happy families and helping each other develop the economy.

On the propaganda route of officials and population collaborators of Mon Son commune (Con Cuong). Photo: MH

During the remaining time, the club leader introduced some family planning methods to the members and encouraged women to use modern contraceptives. Although this is a topic that is often discussed, joining the club, chatting and meeting makes everyone more excited. After the meeting, there are village and national affairs, and those who have difficulties are asked and helped, so the sisterhood in the village becomes even more united.

Ms. Vi Thuy Dung - Population - Health collaborator of Lang Yen village, Mon Son commune said: "It is very difficult to reduce births in this border area. Because the concept of having a son to continue the family line and having many children to have labor has permeated the subconscious of the people. It is difficult, but we always have a way to make people understand". That is also the reason why in Lang Yen village, in addition to the "Young Family" Club model, the village also has the "Family withoutthird child”… In addition, the club also cooperates with farmers' and women's associations to integrate population talks and implement many programs to gradually change people's awareness.

Students of Nguyen Canh Chan High School learn about reproductive health for adolescents and young people. Photo: MH

As one of the veteran population officials, with many years of experience in the industry, Ms. Vi Thi Loan - population official of Mon Son Commune Health Station, is also very concerned about her work. This is partly due to the fact that Mon Son is a border commune with a large area, so the work of propagating and disseminating population and family planning policies faces many difficulties. In particular, the two villages of Co Phat and Khe Bung with the Dan Lai ethnic group living in the core area of ​​Pu Mat National Park still have many backward customs, the situation of early marriage and incestuous marriage still occurs.

“At first, it was very difficult to approach the people here and the only solution was to be persistent. Almost every month, we went to the village, to each household to “hold hands and guide”, and propagate and guide the people to gradually eliminate bad customs. Thanks to that, now the women here no longer have to give birth by dipping their children in water. Pregnant women know how to go for regular prenatal checkups. When the day of birth is near, they proactively go to the health station. Not only the Dan Lai people, but also the Thai and Mong people in other villages and hamlets of this border commune are also propagated by population collaborators about population policies in the new period.

Ms. Vi Thi Loan - population officer of Mon Son Commune Health Station

Not only in the highlands, midlands and coastal areas, there are also models that bring many practical effects. For example, in Cua Lo town, there is the model of "Sea Family"; in Thanh Chuong district, there is the model of "River Communication" for the boat people in Thanh Chuong district.

In addition, in many localities throughout the province, there are models of "Life skills education and adolescent reproductive health" clubs in high schools and junior high schools; "Male farmers with reproductive health care/family planning" clubs in 40 communes and towns; new media models of "Family with reproductive health care" clubs, "Happy family" clubs; "Veterans with reproductive health care" clubs...

Go to every alley, knock on every door

Over the past 2 years, the complicated developments of the Covid-19 pandemic have made it difficult for the population sector to carry out its activities. However, overcoming these obstacles, the sector has flexibly organized appropriate population activities in the context of the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic. In particular, localities always have new ways of doing things, models suitable to reality, gradually bringing population policies deeply into the people.

Furthermore, the enthusiasm and dedication of village and hamlet population officials and collaborators "going to every alley, every house" to propagate population policy makes every person in every village and every alley understand more clearly all aspects of population policy.

Propaganda about population policy for people in Thach Giam town (Tuong Duong). Photo: MH

Following the population workers of Thach Giam town (Tuong Duong) to each household, we can see the perseverance of the population team of villages and hamlets. The area of ​​Thach Giam town is large, and it has just been merged from Hoa Binh town (old) and Thach Giam commune, so getting acquainted with the new area and work is very difficult. To go to each household, each collaborator cannot count how many miles they have to travel, how much time it takes to mobilize all the subjects, most of them have to work overtime, taking advantage of the holidays to meet the people.

“Every year, the district develops a plan and assigns it to communes and towns to implement, and directly to the Executive Committee members in charge of each area. If the third child birth rate increases in any area, the head must take responsibility. Assigning responsibility to each cadre has helped the population work to have many clear changes, there were periods of 2 consecutive years when no one had a third child, and the third child birth rate in the whole district decreased.”

Mr. Vi Van Cam - Head of Population - Family Planning Department, Tuong Duong District Medical Center

To adapt to the new situation, population workers must also innovate and constantly learn and improve their expertise. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuan - population specialist of Thuan Son commune (Do Luong) said: When the epidemic broke out, gathering large crowds was difficult. Therefore, despite our age, we also started to get acquainted with social networks, considering it the main communication channel. For cases at risk of having a third child, instead of going to each house, we used other channels such as Zalo and Facebook to propagate and mobilize. Thanks to that, the propaganda work was not interrupted.

Providing medical services to people in Con Cuong district. Photo: CK

Identifying communication and mobilization work as a very important factor to raise awareness and change people's behavior in complying with population and development policies, over the past time, Nghe An Population Department has also organized many meaningful activities. That is, annually coordinating with the Steering Committee for Population Work of districts to organize the Integrated Communication Campaign to provide reproductive health care/family planning services to people, responding to the contest to become a population propagandist on the Tiktok platform and social networks organized by the General Department of Population - Family Planning and winning the Collective Encouragement Prize...

In addition, many regular communication activities and models, effective key communication such as: Integrated communication to provide reproductive health care - family planning services for women in special areas with high birth rates, difficult-to-reach subjects; communication on reproductive health care for adolescents and youth in high schools and junior high schools in the form of extracurricular activities, propaganda, direct consultation; communication on reproductive health care for workers in industrial parks; communication on gender imbalance at birth...

In 2021, the birth rate in the whole province decreased from 2.75 children/woman to 2.68 children/woman and this is a success of the industry in the context of many difficulties. The good news is that despite financial and epidemic difficulties, at the grassroots level, communication activities on Population - Reproductive Health Care/Family Planning are taking place actively with content and forms that are innovated, rich, diverse, suitable to the characteristics of each locality and unit such as thematic talks, community consultation, small group consultation, household consultation...

Nghe An is also a locality that is highly appreciated by the General Department of Population and Family Planning in its propaganda and mobilization work, which has contributed to positive changes in the province's population work.

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