Nghe An implements many solutions to reduce the rate of third and higher births
(Baonghean.vn) - The current situation of violating population policy and having a third child or more is still happening in Nghe An. This has significantly affected the performance and implementation of the sector's tasks, especially in reducing births and the rate of third children.
Difficult to handle violations
"Handling violations ofthird child“There are still many difficulties,” shared Ms. Tran Thi Nhung, a population officer of Kim Son town (Que Phong). To “speak with evidence,” she showed us some petitions from some local officials, including party members.
A letter from a teacher in Kim Son town after giving birth to her third child said that after giving birth to two children, she had taken birth control measures by injecting contraceptives. However, after having a stomachache, she went to the district health center for a check-up and the doctors diagnosed that she was more than 4 months pregnant. At that time, both the teacher and her husband were very confused because "as party members, they were afraid of affecting their agency and unit". Meanwhile, if they implemented family planning, it could affect their health.
In submitting the petition, this female teacher also wished to have her case of violating the policy on having a third child considered because according to the regulations, "in the case of having a third child due to an unwanted pregnancy, if the implementation of family planning measures seriously affects the life and health of the mother, then no disciplinary action will be considered". Every year, Kim Son town has cases of people in the area violating the population policy by having a third child or more.
According to regulations, if an individual is a party member, he/she will be handled according to Regulation No. 69 - Decision/Central Committee on disciplining Party organizations and party members who violate the law. Meanwhile, if he/she is a cadre, civil servant or public employee who is not a party member, he/she will be handled according to Decree No. 112/2020/Nghi Dinh-Nghọc Chính of the Government on disciplining cadres, civil servants and public employees (now Decree 71). However, there are still cases where, despite the violation, it is still possible to "evade" it for various reasons.
Ms. Tran Thi Nhung said: Up to this point, according to the report, there are 7 cases of violations of having a third child, but in reality there are more because 2 people have documents to legalize it. In previous years, there were also a few people each year and most of them were officials, civil servants, and party members. These cases all have the same reason: they used contraceptives but still got pregnant unintentionally. In addition, they all have certificates from medical units that they have some specific diseases such as high blood pressure, poor health so they are forced to have children.
Having many cases of legalizing documents will lead to difficulties for us in propaganda work, mobilizing people to implement population policy and may lead to the risk of increasing the number of people having a third child. Because in recent years, the ideology and psychology of wanting to have many children, wanting to have a son to continue the family line still exists among the people.
In addition, some newly issued policies of the Party and State have adjusted and supplemented some regulations in the family planning policy, causing some cadres, party members, and people to misunderstand or intentionally "circumvent the law" to have more children.
Vinh City is also a locality with a high birth rate of the third child or more, over 10% per year. In particular, there are wards and communes with very high rates, such as Nghi Lien commune estimated this year at 25%, Truong Thi wards at 17.9%, Quang Trung at 21.79%, Trung Do at 20.89%, Dong Vinh at 17.09%.
Through direct statistics and understanding of the handling of policy violations due to having a third child or more, Ms. Phung Thi Thanh - Head of the Population Department - Vinh City Health Center said: Almost every year we receive petitions from a number of cadres and party members who violate the policy due to having a third child or more. In which, the main reason is that they used contraceptives but still got pregnant.
However, not all cases are considered. One of the recent cases is a civil servant working in a central ward of Vinh city. According to the application, the unwanted pregnancy was due to ineffective contraceptive pills. However, in the application of this civil servant, when confirming the medical condition, there was only a confirmation from the head doctor of the department, not a confirmation from the medical unit as prescribed, so it was very difficult for us to handle.
Raise responsibility
Nghe An is one of the provinces with the largest population, ranking 4th in the country, the birth rate and the rate of third births are still high. In addition, the number of women of childbearing age is increasing every year, so the task of reducing births and reducing the number of third and more children is still very difficult.
In 2023, according to the synthesis of the Provincial Department of Population and Family Planning, up to this point, although the third birth rate in the whole province has decreased by 1.37% compared to 2022, the third birth rate in the whole province is still very high: 28.08%. In Anh Son district alone, it is estimated that the third birth rate this year is 35.2%, much higher than the general level of the whole province.
During the discussion, Mr. Ho Si Luc - Head of the Population Department - Anh Son District Health Center added: Although we have had many solutions to reduce the rate of third child births in the area, this is really not a simple task. Sadly, in the cases of violations, the number of officials and party members working in state agencies accounts for a fairly large proportion.
Through the practice of monitoring and handling violations, Mr. Ho Si Luc also said that, in the past, when Nghe An issued regulations on handling violations of having a third child, the implementation at the grassroots level was quite serious. But now, according to current regulations, if you are a party member, you will only be "reprimanded", not recorded in the file, if you are not a party member, your salary increase will only be delayed for a short time, which is no longer a deterrent. Therefore, the situation of having a third child is increasing.
Currently, the focus of population work has shifted from Family Planning to Population and Development. Meanwhile, Nghe An is still carrying out two tasks in parallel: doing well the population and development work, improving the quality of the population, and reducing the birth of the third child. Therefore, with the above shortcomings and difficulties, it is clear that there are still many difficulties and challenges in implementing the work of reducing births and the rate of third births in the whole province.
Recently, the People's Council of Nghe An province has issued Resolution No. 15/2020/NQ - HDND stipulating a number of policies on population and development work in the new situation with many reward policies for communes, wards, towns and blocks, hamlets and villages with no third or more births. In addition, we have promoted propaganda, mobilization and social marketing of non-clinical contraceptive methods; effectively implemented the socialization of family planning services, and improved the quality of reproductive health care/family planning services.
However, for the propaganda to be effective, all levels, sectors and localities need to coordinate closely in implementing population policy, promoting the pioneering and exemplary role of each party member in implementing the policy that each couple should only have 2 children.
