Solutions to Achieve the Targets of Reducing Birth Rates and Improving Population Quality

Based on the reports, presentations, and discussion opinions of the delegates, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Viet Tien had the following conclusions and directives at the Workshop:

Actively mobilize resources for population work. The General Department of Population - Family Planning (GD-PFP) summarizes practical experiences and issues documents under its authority or submits them to the competent authorities for direction and guidance:

- Localities mobilize legal resources at the Central and local levels, including private investment, humanitarian funds, and private sectors to effectively implement population and family planning tasks;- Provincial and city Departments of Health, and GD-PFP departments proactively and actively advocate, and advise the party committees and local governments to supplement funding from local budgets for population and family planning to effectively implement population and family planning tasks in 2016 and the 2016 - 2020 period.

Health care for the elderly: The GD-PFP is responsible for cooperating with the Personnel Department to report to the Ministry of Health leadership to work with the Ministry of Home Affairs, and soon establish a Department for Elderly Health Care under the GD-PFP to be the focal point for mobilizing resources and effectively implementing elderly health care programs and projects.

Ensuring policies for population collaborators: The GD-PFP guides the Departments of Health, and provincial and city GD-PFP departments to report to the People’s Committees of provinces and cities on issuing policies to care for population collaborators, especially ensuring sufficient allowance policies for them to work effectively.

On prenatal and neonatal screening, diagnosis, the GD-PFP is responsible for:

- Strengthening state management of facilities providing prenatal and neonatal screening and diagnosis services so that these service facilities develop in the right direction, proper planning, and regulations, overcoming the abuse of techniques, and expanding services without ensuring quality.- Taking the lead, in cooperation with the Maternal and Child Health Department and the Treatment Administration Department, in submitting criteria and standards of service facilities providing prenatal and neonatal screening and diagnosis services to the Ministry of Health, including requirements for facilities, trained personnel, and minimum equipment...- Coordinating with the Health Insurance Department to work with Vietnam Social Security to include the list of diseases that can be screened and diagnosed prenatally and neonatally into the list covered by health insurance and determine the lowest possible service prices so many people can access them.

On achieving the targets of fertility reduction and family planning services, the GD-PFP is assigned:

- To develop documents and guidance in accordance with current laws and population policies to prevent the increasing trend of having a third child or more.- To implement solutions to ensure sufficient contraceptive means and services for free-provided subjects and ethnic minorities; people living in deep-lying and remote areas, and high fertility areas, to continue reducing fertility levels in these areas.

Solutions to achieve the objective of fertility reduction and improving population quality are specified in Notification 932/TT-BYT issued on September 21, 2016.

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