Birth control programme targets poor, rural areas

A programme providing free birth control services will continue to target populations in remote and underprivileged areas, especially ethnic minority groups and industrial park workers, said Marie Stopes International country director Nguyen Thi Bich Hang at a workshop on reproductive healthcare held today in the central city of Da Nang.

Under the programme, called "Choice" and administered by Marie Stopes International in Vietnam, women receive free intrauterine devices (IUDs) and men receive free vasectomies, said Hang. The goal of the programme was to reduce the rate of abortions and maternal mortality in the country, she said.

"The programme will strive to improve Vietnam's healthcare system and raise public awareness of sexual and reproductive health," Hang said, adding that Vietnam now had about 25 million women of reproductive age and the number was forecast to continue increasing.

Around 870,000 people in provinces of An Giang, Ba Ria Vung Tau, Binh Phuoc, Ca Mau, Dien Bien, Dak Lak, Quang Tri and Phu Yen, as well as in the cities of Hanoi, Da Nang and HCM City have benefited from the programme over the past three years.

Under the programme, up to 4,500 medical staff have been trained in delivering IUDs and vasectomies. Statistics of from the General Department for Population and Family Planning suggested that the programme had funded about 40 per cent of all such procedures nationwide during 2009-12.

Implementation of the programme was expected to contribute to achieving the goals in the 2011-20 national strategy on population and reproductive health in a context of rapid population growth, said the deputy dead of the General Department for Population and Family Planning, Nguyen Van Tan.

Long-term and permanent methods of contraception were vital to ensure the sustainability of the national strategy, said Tan.