New challenges in population work in Nghe An

Many indicators that need to decrease still increase!

Entering the 8th month of the year but cpopulation agentIn Dien Ky commune (Dien Chau), there has not been much progress, although the people working in population work in the commune are still very dedicated to their work.

Sharing about this, Ms. Tran Thi Quy - a population officer of the commune said: In the past 2 years, we have set many goals and programs but they are all unfinished for many different reasons. Firstly, there is no budget for implementation, secondly, recent activities mainly focus on disease prevention and control. Besides, because population work has been transferred to the health station, coordination with departments, branches or advising local authorities is more difficult than before. There are even many activities in the commune that we cannot grasp in time to coordinate and propagate together.

Consulting on population policy for people in Dien Ky commune. Photo: PV

According to Ms. Quy, since the beginning of the year, population work in the area has had two outstanding activities, which are organizing propaganda for mothers or women of pregnant age (associated with vaccination) and taking advantage of physical training and sports activities in villages and hamlets to propagate and mobilize in small groups. However, for a densely populated commune with 2 hamlets in a special area, the effectiveness of the propaganda sessions is not really enough to "penetrate". Not to mention, due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, people are not interested in the activities.

Most recently, when implementing the population campaign, the whole commune only had 100 participants while the target was 150 people. That is also the reason why the birth rate of the third child or more in the commune is still high, over 33%, even over 40% in some hamlets. Among these, families with more than 5 children or cases of officials and civil servants violating the law by having a third child or more are not rare.

In the first 6 months of 2022, population work in Dien Chau district still faces many difficulties when some indicators compared to the previous year have not decreased, and are even at risk of increasing. Notably, two indicators are still at an alarming level when the birth rate of the third child or more is still high, at 35%, the gender imbalance index at birth is 115/110, higher than the average of the whole province.

A communication session on population in a special area of ​​Dien Chau district. Photo: PV

Talking about the current difficulties, Ms. Tran Thi Luong - Head of Population Communication Department, Dien Chau District Health Center also shared many concerns, because these indicators in the past few years have not decreased but have tended to increase. Moreover, population activities are increasingly facing many difficulties: This year, there is no source of funding for the population target program, so population activities are "stagnant". Meanwhile, the local budget has not been clearly allocated for population and health targets, so there is no basis for funding activities, so at the commune level, most people do not have a budget for activities.

This reality is happening in many other localities. Even in Vinh city, the birth reduction results are not yet stable when the birth rate of the third child or more is still high and has been increasing in recent years. Specifically, if in 2015, the birth rate of the third child or more was 8.8%, then in 2021 it increased to 15.8%. In the first 6 months of 2022, this rate was 14.7% and there were wards and communes where the birth rate of the third child or more accounted for nearly 40%. The gender gap at birth is increasingly high and higher than the average of the whole province. Specifically, if in 2015, this rate was only 112 boys/100 girls, then in 2021 it was 122.4 boys/100 girls.

The challenges

According to the 2019 census, Nghe An has a population of more than 3.3 million, ranking fourth among 63 provinces and cities nationwide, about 3 times the population of Da Nang and 11 times the population of Bac Can province. Currently, Nghe An's population continues to increase at an average rate of 1.33% (2009 - 2019), 1.14% higher than the national average.

It is worth mentioning that although Nghe An has always been persistent in implementing the birth reduction goals, Nghe An has not yet achieved the goal of a 2-child family and the province's birth rate is still high at 2.76 children/woman, ranking second in the country and only behind Ha Tinh province (while the whole country is 2.06 children). This is also part of the reason why Nghe An's third birth rate has remained high in recent years. In 2021, the third and higher birth rate in the whole province was 29.86%, an increase of 1.28% compared to 2020; an increase of 1.58% compared to the annual plan. The gender imbalance at birth is increasing rapidly, reaching a serious level with 114 boys/100 girls.

Consulting for students of Central College of Transport 4. Photo: Tran Huong

In recent years, the quality of Nghe An's population has improved in many aspects. Malnutrition, mortality, and maternal and child mortality have decreased sharply, and stature and physical strength have improved significantly. Average life expectancy has increased rapidly, increasing by 0.85 years, from 72.3 years in 2012 to 73.15 years in 2021. However, many other indicators are still not high. For example, according to the 2019 population census and the 2019 population living standards survey, Nghe An's human development index is 0.553, ranking 43rd out of 63 provinces and cities nationwide. In which, the highest component index is health, the weakest index is labor productivity, and the average is the education index. If comparing the indicators, it is lower than the North Central and Central Coast regions.

The above shortcomings are also challenges for Nghe An population work today and the industry's goal is to continue to stabilize the scale, improve the quality of the population and create human resources to meet the requirements of industrialization and modernization of the homeland and the country. Not to mention, population work is still facing difficulties after the merger, the apparatus has not been completed; the budget and national target programs have been cut; some inappropriate mechanisms and policies limit the effectiveness of operations at the grassroots level.

The Department of Population and Family Planning communicates to the elderly in Hung Dung Ward (Vinh City). Photo: My Ha

From the above reality, reducing birth rate and improving population quality is not only the task of the Health - Population sector but also of the entire political system and society. Therefore, to achieve the goals of Resolution No. 21 - NQ/TW dated October 25, 2017 of the Party Central Committee on population work in the new situation, it is important to focus on perfecting the institutions, specifically completing the projects and plans in the Action Program of the Provincial Party Committee; the implementation plan of the Provincial People's Committee.

In order to effectively implement population goals and targets, and complete the targets assigned by the Resolution of the 2021-2025 Congress, the sector needs to continue to advise Party committees, authorities, departments, branches, and organizations to strengthen leadership, direction, and coordination in implementing population and development work.

In addition, it is necessary to further promote and innovate communication work in accordance with the goals, objects, regions and areas. Strengthen and improve the quality of the staff working on population work from the provincial to the grassroots level to ensure that they are strong enough to carry out assigned tasks. Improve the quality of reproductive health care and family planning services, ensuring timeliness, safety and convenience for people; effectively implement the socialization of contraceptives to meet people's needs in implementing family planning. At the same time, strengthen inspection and supervision of the implementation of population policies and strictly handle violations according to regulations.

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