Committee for population,family and children

WE NEED SUCH SUPPORTS

Investment in human is investment for future. All of our efforts aim at  improving the quality and not the quantity of the human resources. We all know that family and childhood are our first cradle, opening the gate to life. As a result, population-family-children issues are a close link of a chain. Binh Thuan's annual fertility between 1989 and 1999 was 2.99%, ranking the sixth among the 61 provinces and cities in Vietnam. Its dependent population in 2000 was the highest in the region and the whole country (The southeast: 0,74%; the whole country: 0.8%). How Binh Thuan has come up with and solved this problem?

Socialize the population work:

There are in Binh Thuan 27 ethnic groups. According to the July 1999 Census, the Kinh accounts for the majority of the population (93.04%), the Cham 2.84%, the Racgly: 1.2%; the Hoa: 1.07%, and other groups account for the rest. The province's average population density is 132 persons/sq.km. As a coastal area, 70% of Binh Thuan's households live on agriculture and sea exploitation, labor- intensive occupations, and this poses a lot of difficulties to the population work of the cadres at Binh Thuan Committee for population-family-children.

Firstly, mention should be made of the campaign for reduced fertility. Population workers are required to follow up the situation in the grassroots level. In order to get themselves updated, they have to frequent the locality, take note and report of the population situation of the province according to the form and tables. The Committee and the statistics sector then double-checked the data to ensure accuracy and organization of information. This hardship of Binh Thuan population workers has been reduced now. The committees for population-family-children in six districts and cities are equipped with computers to carry out the project of birth registry. Through the LAN network in each district and city, the updating and transfer of information to the common data store have becomes more convenient and quickly. Secondly, it is noteworthy to mention the frequent inspection and monitoring the activities at the grass- roots level. In the first six months of 2003, Binh Thuan Committee for Population, Family, and Children has surveyed and found that 8 communes and wards have a low rate of mothers with more than two births, or an increase of 4. This rate in Phu Trinh, Phu Thuy, Duc Nghia, Xuan An wards is lower than 10% and this rate in Duc Chinh, Hong Phong, Phong Nam, Tien Loi communes is lower than 15%. Population communication models have been applied so that the people have a right understanding of population, thus change their behavior towards having fewer births and paying more attention to the quality of population.

Consistent campaigning is con- ducted with the installation of posters in most districts, towns, wards and communes. In the first half of the year, 2 new posters, 42 sq. m in total, have been set up in Ham Thuan district and Phan . Thiet City. Communication materials, band lolls, slogans on population-family-children are printed and delivered timely to grassroots population-family- children workers. Focus activities such as Month of Action for Children, Vietnam Family's Day, Contests of Excellent collaborators of Population-family-children Communication have been carried out and attract many participants. The Committee for Population, Family, and Children also coordinates with the Binh Thuan Radio and Television, and Binh Thuan newspaper to propagate the population-family-children work. The province's radio and television each broadcasts two programs on this topic. Binh Thuan Newspaper has a column about population-family-children in each issue. In 2002 alone, there were 100 newspaper issues, over 30 TV programs, over 70 radio programs on the provincial level, and over 50 news stories, over 160 bulletins and more than 7,000 hours of loudspeaker broadcast on the commune level. In the first six months of 2003, there were 12 radio programs, 12 TV programs, and 96 newspaper issues on this subject. They actually contribute to raising the awareness and of all strata of people and help change their behavior with regard to population and development, reproductive health and family planning, prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, safe motherhood, promote small-scale family where parents can provide a better education and care for their children.

In order to mobilize the participation of all strata of people and makes the population work a social effort, in 2003, the Committee signed a contract of responsibility with Farmers' Association, Women's Association, War Veterans' Association, and The Elderly's Association. Through respected and responsible individuals, the campaign becomes easier. The Women's Association propagates women against having more than two children, malnourished children and children who violate the law. The Provincial Youth Union serves as a bridge that provides information and educates its members about population, reproductive health and family planning through activities, models, young family club, reproductive health club and monthly bulletin. Most recently, the Committee coordinates with the province's War Veterans' Association to organize a seminar on population laws for war veterans in the ethnic communes. The population pro- gram in Binh Thuan has been highly socialized.

Full-time population workers are the core of this program. They should get professional training to be able to campaign, persuade and lead the movements. In this spirit. in the past 6 months, the Committee cooperates with the Population, Health and Family Project to train 117 full-time population workers in districts, communes and towns to carry out propaganda and communication activities on changing the behavior about reproductive health care and family planning.

Population projects in the province are focusing on disadvantaged subjects. In the first six months of2003, the Committee planed to strengthen reproductive health and family planning services for 78 poor regions and disadvantaged regions in 9 districts and cities in the province and to provide 5 districts and cities in the campaign with the medicine to cure gynecological diseases, coordinated with the Province's Service of Health to issue joint documents to instruct affiliated agencies and the agencies at the district and city levels to pro- vide reproductive health care and family planning services within and outside the campaign.

High fertility is associated with poverty, backwardness, and family conflicts and leads to inequality and social underdevelopment. To help the people find the way out of these circumstances, the Committee is carrying out the Project to integrate population into development of sustainable family through savings credit and family economy development. With the cooperation of the agriculture sector, Woman's Association, the Social Policies Bank, the Bank for Rural Development, the project will be implemented in 5 communes in Tanh Linh district. Each commune selects five groups, 20 households each, to involve in the protect.

One necessary technical way to limit fertility is to provide contraceptives to people of childbearing age. By 22 May 2003 the Committee has supplied districts, cities, centre for the province's Maternal and children protection and Family planning with 41,600 packs of ideal medicine, 6,800 packs of Exluion, 1,500 tubes of injection, 316,000 condoms, 6,000 T-cu diaphragms. By 15 June 2003, there have been 564 sterilized cases, and 6,345 use the ultra-uterine device method.

Kind hearts:

"Children are like tree buds" (Ho Chi Minh)

Taking care of the children is to care for their spiritual and material life. Binh Thuan emphasizes the targets of health-nutrition, education, protection and care for disadvantaged children, clean water, and environmental hygiene. However, the statistics for the first 6 months of 2003 show that the malnutrition rate remained high, at 30%, the number of under-4 mortality was 39, the number of underweight infants was 103, the percentage of pregnant women who get frequent medical checkups is 83.21%; 3 died during pregnancy. The rate of children who can go to school at a right age is 45.1% among kindergarten children, 89.1% among 5-age children, 98.6% among first graders, 97.2% among children between 6-10.

Those who are involved in family t and children programs are worried that ' the rate of children who access education at the right age is only 77.6% of that of the country. In addition, regarding the targets of clean water and environmental, hygiene, only 49.5% and 32% of the t rural households can access clean water  and hygienic toilets respectively.

In taking care of children, focus should be on their special circum stances. Not a few children born into poor families and with deformities get timely support. So far 217 handicapped children in Ham Thuan Bac, Ham Thuan Nam and Phan Thiet have been examined and classified. This is just a moderate but encouraging number. 53 children taken to Ho Chi Minh City for operation now can make their first straight and faster step in life. 5 children have been splinted; 2 are provided with a wheelchair. These children and their families are very happy. In Tinh Thuong School under the management of the Committee, 65 children in extreme difficulty now can read and write and do calculation. 13 deaf children now realize their dream of schooling; 150 children in Phan Thlet who face the risk of being driven to the street and to work at an early age now can go to anti-illiteracy school. In Mui Ne ward, approximately 60 children go to primary and secondary classes of this kind. Tinh Thuong School is like a cozy nest for such children. Moved by the devotion of the school's teachers, agencies, branches and benefactors have visited the school, contributing candies, notebooks, rice. Small things as they may be, but they have a practical significance on the life of these poor children.

Let's help children, let's make their life better. Those involved in population-family-children efforts in Binh Thuan also hope so. Recently, through the province's Children Sponsorship Fund, these people handed over and put into use two entertainment parks for children in Duc Linh, Tanh Linh. Together with Samaritan Purse, an Australian organization, they visit and give gifts to kindergarten children in the remote, far-flung areas, help set up a bore well for the Thong Trien kindergarten in Thong Trien, Ham Duc commune, Ham Thuan Bac district, prepare documents to submit to the Fund for the later to grant scholarship to children of war invalids of martyrs and poor keen learners. In the month of action for children from May 15 to June 30, 2003, on the Vietnam's Family Day, and in the Mid-autumn Festival, a serious of activities for children have been held, including: visiting, presenting gifts, providing medical examinations, free medicine, showing films to children in disadvantaged regions and from ethic groups. Especially, the province's Centre for Social Diseases has conducted eye examination for 320 children from 8 out of 9 districts and cities in the province. 111 of them were referred to Ho Chi Minh City for eye operation.

A better life for all families requires the utmost efforts by population-family-children workers. The biggest dream of these workers is that the Centre for Population-family-children Services Counseling will soon be put into use and that the State will soon allocate budget for the target pro- grams for children. There has been the plan for the project of establishing the Centre but the material base for the project has been a zero. Activities regarding population and children work are just unplanned movements. The State should Pay more attention to these efforts./.

BINH NGUYEN