Infant care at the National Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology (Photo: VNA)Vinh Phuc (VNA) – The unbalanced sex ratio at birth is expanding quickly,particularly in the Red River Delta, stressed Deputy Health Minister NguyenViet Tien.
He raisedthe alarm at a conference held in the northern province of Vinh Phuc on May 23to review outcomes of a project on controlling the imbalance for 2016 – 2025.
The mainreason behind the problem is the deeply-rooted preference for sons, the DeputyMinister said, adding that the situation is made more complicated by the easieraccess to affordable sex-determination and sex-selection technology that allowscouples to pursue their desire for one or more sons. To date, there are yet anysanctions imposed to deter the practice.
Accordingto the General Office for Population and Family Planning (GOPFP), after oneyear of implementation, 38 provinces and cities have included criteria oncontrolling the imbalance of sex ratio at birth in their socio-economicdevelopment plan, while 26 others have allocated part of the local budget tofinance the project.
During theperiod, the GOPFP has organised more than 20,000 seminars, workshops andconferences on the subject, disseminating knowledge about the population law tonearly 700,000 people.
The agencyalso carried out 3,667 inspections targeting medical facilities offeringultrasound scans and abortion services.
However,the outcome left little to be optimistic. In 2014, 15 out of 63 provinces andcities nationwide reported the ratio of 115 male births to 100 female births.The number decreased to 13 in 2015 before rising to 22 last year.
The GOPFP explainedthat in 2016, the project’s agenda mostly focused on guiding localities indrafting out plans of actions. Funding was not distributed until October, thusa number of activities could not be carried out.
Participatingexperts from the EU and UN Population Fund and Republic of Korea shared theirexperience on measures to reduce unbalanced sex ratio at birth in the world,suggesting some advice for Vietnam.-VNA
VNA
