Having a third child or more is a violation of population policy and family planning.

(Baonghean) - Dr. Le Thi Hoai Chung - Head of the Provincial Department of Population and Family Planning answered an interview with Nghe An Newspaper about the issue of having a third child in Nghe An today.

PV:In recent years, the Population and Family Planning work in Nghe An province has achieved some remarkable results. Could you please tell us about the achievements that our province has achieved in this field?

Dr. Le Thi Hoai Chung:In recent years, with the attention, leadership and strong direction of Party committees and authorities at all levels, the participation of the entire political system together with the efforts of the population sector, the population work of our province has achieved important results. The birth rate has decreased from 18.89%o (in 2011) to 17.15%o (in 2015) (an average decrease of 0.4 - 0.5%o per year); similarly, the birth rate of the third child or more has decreased from 18.18% to 16.55%; The population growth rate has decreased from 1.15% to 1.0%. The sex ratio at birth has decreased from 119 boys/100 girls (in 2011) to 110 boys/100 girls (in 2015); The rate of couples using modern contraceptive methods annually reaches 77% - 78%; the rate of malnourished children, maternal mortality, gynecological infections and abortions gradually decreases.

The organizing committee awarded prizes to outstanding students at the Golden Bell contest on reproductive health.

The awareness of Party committees, authorities and the whole society about population/family planning work has had positive changes. Small, equal, progressive and happy families are becoming more and more popular. The quality of the population is increasingly improved in terms of intelligence, physical and spiritual health. These results have contributed significantly to the socio-economic development of the province, increased annual per capita income, hunger eradication, poverty reduction, improved living standards of the people and were recognized by the Ministry of Health and awarded the Emulation Flag, the Prime Minister awarded a Certificate of Merit and the President awarded the Labor Medal.

PV:Nghe An is a populous province, with many regions, remote areas, people's lives still face many difficulties, what obstacles has this caused in implementing population/family planning work, comrade?

Dr. Le Thi Hoai Chung:As a province with a large population (ranked 4th in the country) and is in the group of 10 provinces with the highest birth rate. Meanwhile, the number of women in childbearing age accounts for a high proportion (for every 1 person who leaves childbearing age, there are 2.5 people entering childbearing age). According to the forecast of the Institute for Social Studies and the General Statistics Office, if the current birth rate continues to be maintained, it will take until 2026, or at the latest 2029 for Nghe An to reach the replacement birth rate, while the whole country reached the replacement birth rate in 2005, which means that Nghe An is 20 years behind the whole country in terms of birth rate reduction.

The Department of Population and Family Planning organized a workshop to evaluate the effectiveness of the program of organizing communication activities in special areas and areas with high birth rates.

In addition, the problem of population change is increasingly complicated; population quality has improved but is still low. In particular, some "hot" issues today are: Gender imbalance at an alarming level; increasing population aging rate; In addition, Nghe An is a province with complex natural conditions, terrain, and multiple religions and regions, so backward concepts and customs about childbirth are still heavy among a part of the people. Meanwhile, some documents issued by the Central Government have somewhat reduced disciplinary action against party members who violate population policy (because the whole country has reached the replacement birth rate), thus, the phenomenon of "breaking the rules and circumventing the law" to have a third child has occurred among cadres and party members, creating negative public opinion among the people, affecting the movement to implement population policy. On the other hand, in recent years, investment funding for population work has been significantly reduced. All of these problems are becoming "barriers" in implementing population policy in our province today.

PV:Currently, the country in general and Nghe An in particular, the situation of giving birth to the third child or more, violating the Population - Family Planning policy, is still high. What measures has Nghe An taken to rectify this situation, sir?

Dr. Le Thi Hoai Chung:In addition to focusing on implementing well the work of propaganda, mobilization, providing reproductive health care services - family planning for people and organizing the implementation of activities under the direction of the Central and the province; the sector has proactively advised the Provincial Party Committee, People's Council, and Provincial People's Committee to promulgate regulations and policies on population - family planning work, especially forms of handling violations of population - family planning policy for cadres, party members and the masses. Specifically, the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee issued Directive No. 09 - CT/TU dated September 19, 2012 on Strengthening leadership and direction of the implementation of Resolution No. 20-NQ/TU dated June 26, 2009 of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee on continuing to promote population - family planning work in the new situation, which stipulates the handling of collectives and cadres and party members who violate population - family planning policy.

CSSKSS Counseling at Dang Thuc Hua High School (Thanh Chuong).

In Resolution No. 170/2015/NQ-HDND dated July 10, 2015 of the Provincial People's Council and Decision No. 43/QD-UBND dated August 21, 2015 of the Provincial People's Committee regulating a number of population and family planning policies in Nghe An province, it is stipulated to strictly handle collectives and individuals who violate population and family planning policies according to current laws and the commitment signed with the agency, organization or local government of the place of residence.

PV:Recently, some public opinions said that Nghe An has now removed regulations on punishing people who have a third child. So what is the truth of this issue, comrade?

Dr. Le Thi Hoai Chung:First of all, it is affirmed that, up to now, Nghe An has not issued a policy regulating the punishment of having a third child or more, but only issued a policy to encourage and handle violations of population policy and family planning on the basis of voluntary commitments to implement the Population - Family Planning policy of cadres and party members with the head of the agency and of the people with the local government. This is a necessary and appropriate policy to solve the difficulties and challenges that have been posed to the population work of our province in recent years, at present and in the future.

-Secondly, currently the whole country in general and Nghe An in particular are implementing population and family planning policies according to the Population Ordinance, in which Article 10 stipulates: The rights and obligations of each couple and individual in implementing the population movement and family planning, and reproductive health care are to have one or two children, except in special cases prescribed by the Government.

-Thirdly, currently, the handling of violations of the Population - Family Planning policy in Nghe An province is still being implemented according to the regulations of the Central Government and Directive No. 09 - CT/TU dated September 19, 2012 of the Provincial Party Standing Committee; Resolution No. 170/2015/NQ-HDND dated July 10, 2015 of the Provincial People's Council and Decision No. 43/2015/QD-UBND dated August 21, 2015 of the Provincial People's Committee regulating a number of Population - Family Planning policies in Nghe An province, in which the contents related to handling violations of the Population - Family Planning policy have been stated very specifically.

PV:To effectively carry out the work of Population - Family Planning, contributing to building an increasingly prosperous homeland, what key tasks will the Population Sector focus on, comrade?

Dr. Le Thi Hoai Chung:Realizing the difficult, complicated and long-term nature of Population - Family Planning work. Entering 2006 and the following years, to strive and make efforts to well implement the goals and targets on Population - Family Planning assigned by the Central and the province, the Population Sector will focus on implementing a number of key tasks as follows:

1. Focus on implementing well the work of advising the Party Committee and the government to strengthen leadership and direction of population and family planning work. In particular, focus on implementing well the province's new policies on population and family planning work in Resolution No. 170/2015/NQ-HDND dated July 10, 2015 of the Provincial People's Council and Decision No. 43/2015/QD-UBND dated August 21, 2015 of the Provincial People's Committee regulating a number of population and family planning policies in Nghe An province. Organize well the signing of commitments to implement population and family planning policies between cadres, party members with agencies, units and people with local authorities.

Second. Continue to strengthen the propaganda and education on the Population - Family Planning policy with many rich and diverse forms suitable to the needs, levels and awareness of all classes of people in order to convince society and people to accept and voluntarily implement the policy of each couple having only 1 to 2 children. This is still an important solution and needs to be given top priority. In which, it is necessary to promote the exemplary role of cadres and party members in implementing the Population policy; link the implementation of the population policy with the building of families, villages, hamlets, neighborhoods, residential clusters and cultural units.

To effectively implement population policy, it is necessary to promoteexemplary role of cadres and party members

3. Continue to strengthen and stabilize the organizational structure, improve the capacity and professional qualifications of the staff working in Population - Family Planning from the provincial to grassroots levels to ensure they are strong enough to carry out assigned tasks.

4. Improve the quality of ensuring family planning service logistics, diversify contraceptive means, aiming to fully, promptly, safely and conveniently provide quality family planning services to users to mainly achieve family planning goals and contribute to improving population quality. Continue to implement models and projects to ensure effectiveness and replicate the model. In particular, build and implement the plan "Socialization of providing contraceptive means and family planning/reproductive health services for the period 2015 - 2020 in Nghe An province".

PV(Perform)