Improving population quality essential for sustainable economic growth: experts
Population quality is closely related to the level of the country’s socio-economic development, and it, therefore, must be the goal of the whole community and the country and is considered the “golden key” to open the door to sustainable development of the country, according to experts.
To contribute to improving the quality of the population, over the past time, the General Department of Population and Family Planning under the Ministry of Health has implemented many models, schemes and programmes such as: pre-marriage health checks; prenatal and neonatal screening; communication interventions to reduce inbreeding, unwanted pregnancy, and abortion among adolescents and youths; and mental health care for the elderly.
Accordingly, the prenatal and neonatal screening programme has been carried out in the 63 provinces and cities with more than 10,000 districts and communes. This model has helped early detect, intervene and treat diseases, and metabolic and genetic disorders right in the fetal and neonatal periods.
In the coming time, the general department will continue to coordinate with relevant units to replicate effective models, with a focus on industrial parks, economic zones and remote areas to expand and gradually universalise the provision of consultancy services and pre-marriage health checks, and improve the spiritual life of the elderly.
The general department’s Deputy Director General Pham Vu Hoang said that it is necessary to take concerted measures, including stepping up communications, diversifying products and services, increasing training to raise population-related staff’s knowledge and skills, and investing in perfecting the prenatal and neonatal screening network.
The population work is a both urgent and long-term strategic task, and the cause of the whole Party and people, which requires the participation of the entire political system, and the consensus and support of the people for the proper implementation of the population policy, Hoang stressed.
Vietnam's population currently surpasses 99 million, with the population growth rate successfully controlled. Population quality has improved in many aspects. Specifically, the average life expectancy reached 73.7 years in 2020, higher than that of Southeast Asia. The infant mortality rate (IMR) and the under-5 mortality rate (U5MR) both fell sharply. In 2020, the IMR was 13.9 deaths/1,000 live births, while the U5MR was 22.3 deaths per 1,000 live births.