Promoting achievements, overcoming challenges in population work in Nghe An

Difficulties in population work

On the morning of March 13, the Steering Committee for Population and Development of Nghe An coordinated with the People's Committee of Ky Son district, Nghe An province to organize the launching ceremony of the Integrated Communication Campaign to provide Reproductive Health Care/Family Planning services and improve population quality in 2024.

Event - Promoting achievements, overcoming challenges in population work in Nghe An — Overview of the launching ceremony.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Nguyen Huu Le, Deputy Director of Nghe An Department of Health, highly appreciated the efforts of the entire population sector in recent times, especially in implementing campaigns. In particular, it has been completely proactive in comprehensively implementing contents according to the orientation of population and development, focusing on improving population quality, implementing activities of screening for congenital diseases, prenatal and newborn screening.

In addition, population work has also focused on responding to challenges in population structure such as gender imbalance at birth, population aging, etc. This is a premise, creating positive momentum for the provincial population sector to continue to perform well its tasks in the following years. At the same time, it contributes significantly to the achievements of socio-economic development and improving the quality of life of the people of the province.

Event - Promoting achievements, overcoming challenges in population work in Nghe An (Figure 2). — *The Deputy Director of the Department of Health said* *that Nghe An is the province with the 6th highest birth rate in the country* .

In addition to the achieved results, the leaders of the health sector also pointed out the difficulties and challenges in the current population work when Nghe An is still a province with a large population, more than 3.5 million people (ranked 4th in the country); is the province with the 6th highest birth rate in the country (2.61 children) and still has an increasing trend.

It is worth noting that the birth rate of the third child or more has decreased but not significantly and is still very high (28.08%); the gender imbalance at birth is high (116.33 boys/100 girls); although population quality has improved, it is still low...

Investing resources in population work

In this context, the provision of reproductive health care/family planning services plays a very important role in population and development work.

Providing good services will solve the basic problems of population work, notably being more proactive in family planning to implement the small family model; contributing to improving population quality.

Event - Promoting achievements, overcoming challenges in population work in Nghe An (Figure 3). — *Giving gifts to households in Ky Son district that well implement population and family planning policies.*

To successfully achieve the set goals and targets and successfully implement the campaign in 2024, on behalf of the Provincial Steering Committee for Population and Development, the Deputy Director of the Department of Health requested that relevant departments, branches and localities continue to pay attention, lead, direct and invest resources in population work.

In particular, it is necessary to identify this as an important and regular task, both a goal and a premise to improve population quality, contributing to proactively preparing high-quality human resources to meet the requirements of industrialization and modernization of the homeland and country.

In addition, it is necessary to strengthen the effective organization of propaganda and mobilization activities, diversify the content and forms suitable for target groups, mobilize the entire political system to participate, and create a widespread and effective spread among the masses.

Based on the provincial campaign plan, localities and units establish a campaign steering committee, develop a plan and organize the implementation of the campaign in accordance with the conditions of each locality and need to expand the target audience in the campaign. In addition, it is necessary to pay attention to the depth, quality and practical effectiveness in service provision, in order to meet the increasing demand for voluntary reproductive health care.

Event - Promoting achievements, overcoming challenges in population work in Nghe An (Figure 4). — *The Director of the Department of Population acknowledged and highly appreciated the population work of Nghe An province.*

Regarding this, Mr. Le Thanh Dung, Director of the Department of Population, acknowledged and highly appreciated the population work of Nghe An province. This is clearly demonstrated in the advisory work, always proactively seizing opportunities, knowing how to choose priority issues to resolutely direct the effective implementation of population and development work; the organization of communication and consultation activities associated with the provision of reproductive health care/family planning services and improving population quality are widely organized with many different subjects.

Event - Promoting achievements, overcoming challenges in population work in Nghe An (Figure 5). — *Population planning propaganda in Ta Ca commune, Ky Son district.*

In the coming time, the Ministry of Health hopes that Party committees and authorities from the provincial to grassroots levels will continue to pay attention to directing and investing in population work; Hope that the team working on Population - Health in Nghe An will continue to promote the achievements, make more efforts to overcome the difficulties and challenges facing Nghe An's population work at present.

As planned, this year's campaign will be held in all communes, wards and towns in Nghe An province and divided into 2 phases, ending before November 30, 2024.

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