Nghe An: Launching response to National Action Month on Population

Attending the launching ceremony were comrade Pham Vu Hoang - Deputy Director General of the General Department of Population and Family Planning - Ministry of Health and representatives of departments and offices under the General Department of Population and Family Planning. Also attending were comrades in the Provincial Steering Committee for Population and Development, leaders of Con Cuong district and representatives of a number of relevant departments, branches and sectors. Photo: My Ha

In Nghe An, over the past time, population work has always received attention, leadership and direction from the Party Committee, the government, departments, branches and unions. Thanks to that, population work in general and the annual National Action Month on population in particular have achieved many remarkable results.

That is, the rapid population growth rate is basically controlled, population quality is improved; the small family model becomes the norm, spreading and permeating throughout society; awareness and responsibility of all levels of government, organizations, each family and the whole society about the meaning and importance of population and development work are increasingly enhanced.

Con Cuong district's communication program in response to the Launching Ceremony of the National Action Month on Population. Photo: My Ha

These important results have contributed significantly to the socio-economic development achievements of the province. At the same time, it is a testament to the deep understanding of the content of Resolution 21 of the Party Central Committee on Population work in the current situation.

In addition to the achievements, population work in our province still faces many difficulties and challenges: As a province with a large population (ranked 4th in the country) and a high birth rate (ranked in the top 10 provinces with the highest birth rate in the country), the birth rate of the third child or more is still high. Gender imbalance at birth and population aging are at an alarming level. Population quality is not commensurate with the province's potential.

Deputy Director General of the General Department of Population and Family Planning Pham Vu Hoang speaks at the launching ceremony. Photo: My Ha

In particular, issues of health care for the elderly, reproductive health of adolescents and youth, and health care for mothers and children still face many difficulties; early marriage and incestuous marriage still occur in remote, isolated, and particularly disadvantaged areas.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Nguyen Huu Le - Deputy Director of the Department of Health affirmed: Population work is a strategic task, both urgent and long-term, and the responsibility of the entire Party and the entire people. Therefore, in the face of current population challenges, it is necessary to better understand the importance of doing a good job of population work.PopulationCurrently. In particular, it is necessary to proactively and actively implement effectively Resolution No. 21, the spirit of the 13th National Congress of the Party Central Committee on population work and the Prime Minister's Vietnam Population Strategy to 2030. In particular, the effective implementation of the National Action Month on Population is a positive start to achieve the goals and tasks for 2023 and the following years.

On behalf of the province, Deputy Director of the Department of Health Nguyen Huu Le gave a speech directing the tasks at the launching ceremony. Photo: My Ha

The National Action Month on Population in 2022 is implemented with the theme "Improving population quality for rapid and sustainable national development". Thereby, with the aim of receiving active support from Party committees at all levels, authorities, sectors, unions, social organizations, and people of all walks of life in the face of new issues in current population work, that is, shifting the focus of Population - Family Planning work to Population & Development in the spirit of Resolution No. 21 of the 12th Party Central Committee, overcoming shortcomings and improving population quality in the coming time.

This is also an opportunity to promote advocacy activities, communication and education to change population behavior, contributing to the completion of the 2022 plan targets, and implementing goals and tasks for 2023 and the following years.

According to the plan, the National Action Month on Population will be implemented from December 1 to December 31, 2022.

The provincial population steering committee presents gifts to families that have implemented population policies well in Con Cuong district. Photo: My Ha

To implement the National Action Month on Population, the Deputy Director of the Department of Health also suggested that in the coming time, it is necessary to strengthen the leadership of the Party and invest government resources in population work. Make population work a key content in the leadership and direction of Party committees and authorities at all levels. Correctly implement the policy of continuing to shift the focus from population and family planning to population and development to comprehensively solve the issues of: population size, structure, distribution and improving population quality.

Besides, it is necessary to innovate and improve the effectiveness of propaganda and education work to carry out the campaign "Each couple should have 2 children", ensuring the rights and responsibilities in giving birth and raising children well.

Effectively implement intervention solutions to improve population quality; proactively adjust population growth rate, restrain the increase in sex ratio at birth; propose solutions to promote the advantages of the "golden population" structure and respond to "population aging". At the same time, continue to improve the quality of ensuring family planning service logistics, aiming to fully, promptly, safely and conveniently provide quality family planning services to users.

Booth displaying socialized contraceptives at the launching ceremony. Photo: My Ha

At the launching ceremony, Deputy Director General of the General Department of Population Pham Vu Hoang highly appreciated Nghe An's efforts in population work. This is shown in many contents such as the issuance of many policies and documents on population work, the organization of the implementation apparatus very methodically and the application of IT and the initial implementation of digital transformation in population communication work.

The leaders of the General Department of Population and Family Planning also sympathize and share the difficulties and challenges of population work in Nghe An today because Nghe An is a miniature picture, converging all the difficulties and challenges of population work nationwide in terms of scale, structure, distribution and quality.

For that reason, Nghe An's population work task is even more difficult and Nghe An must simultaneously carry out many tasks - both making efforts to reduce births to soon reach replacement fertility levels, and making efforts to control gender imbalance at birth and improve population quality.