The Ministry of Health has proposed allowing women who have a second child to take longer maternity leave and receive support to buy social housing, especially in industrial parks, export processing zones, and localities with low birth rates. This policy is expected to increase the declining birth rate.
Increase maternity leave for second child
Mr. Le Thanh Dung, Director of the Department of Population (Ministry of Health), said that the Department of Population has advised the Ministry of Health to submit to the Government a dossier proposing the development of the Population Law and a draft Population Law, with proposals. The three major policy groups are: maintaining replacement fertility; reducing gender imbalance at birth and bringing the sex ratio at birth back to its natural balance; and improving population quality.
The Ministry of Health proposes that women giving birth to their second child should be given 7 months of maternity leave, instead of the current 6 months.
In particular, with the policy of maintaining the replacement fertility rate, the draft law proposes to stipulate that each couple and individual has the right to decide equally and voluntarily on having children, the time of giving birth, the number of children and the interval between births in accordance with the age, health status, learning conditions, labor, work, income and child-rearing of the individual or couple.
At the same time, the draft law also proposes to allow female workers who give birth to a second child to extend their maternity leave to 7 months instead of 6 months; creating conditions for women who give birth to 2 children in industrial parks, export processing zones and provinces and cities with low birth rates to receive support to rent or buy social housing.
Birth rate continues to decline
According to Mr. Dung, the Prime Minister previously issued Decision No. 588/QD-TTg approving the Program to Adjust Birth Rates to Suit Regions and Subjects by 2030 to maintain replacement birth rates nationwide and prevent the trend of declining birth rates in some provinces and cities.
It has proposed a number of solutions to achieve the goal of maintaining a stable replacement fertility rate nationwide, including encouraging men and women to get married before the age of 30, not to get married late and have children early, and women to have a second child before the age of 35...
At the same time, build an environment and community suitable for families with young children, such as worker-friendly services: pick-up and drop-off, babysitting, breast milk banks, family doctors, etc. Plan and build childcare centers and kindergartens suitable for mothers' conditions, especially in economic zones, industrial zones, and urban areas.
In addition, support women during pregnancy and childbirth such as counseling, maternal and child health care, including infertility screening, prenatal and postnatal screening, malnutrition prevention; create conditions for women to return to work after giving birth...
At the same time, there are policies to support and encourage couples to have two children: buy social housing, rent housing; give priority to public schools, support children's education costs; build a model for managing and developing family economy.
According to the Ministry of Health, the birth rate in Vietnam has continuously decreased in recent years, down to below the replacement level (from 2.11 children/woman in 2021 to 1.96 children/woman), and is forecast to continue to decrease without effective intervention.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/de-xuat-nu-sinh-con-thu-2-duoc-ho-tro-mua-nha-xa-hoi-nghi-7-thang-18525031017590757.htm
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