Over the past few
years, population activities have only focused on family planning while little
attention has been given to ensuring the quality of the population.
In
recent years, those in charge of the population have made every effort to
reduce the birthrate and Vietnam’s
population is currently facing opportunities for socio-economic development.
However, many issues related to the quality of the population need to be
addressed in the near future.
Vietnamese
people are taking too long to undergo medical treatment, the child mortality
rate remains high and overall life expectancy is low. How to increase the
quality of population is now a thorny problem.
Dr.
Nguyen Thien Truong, former Deputy Director of the Committee for Population,
Family and Children and Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Family Planning
said that the population is still facing a lot of difficulties. While other
countries such as Japan and Germany are
encouraging people to have children, the Vietnamese population are looking for
different ways to reduce birthrate. Vietnam’s population growth rate
fell sharply by 1.2 percent per year from 1999-2009 compared to 10 years
earlier. However, according to a recent population and housing census, Vietnam’s
current population has soared by nearly 9.5 million from 2000.
The
population sector has paid too much attention to the quantity rather than the
quality of the population, which includes such factors as physical and mental
development and population scale and structure.
A
recent survey of the quality of the population has shown that people with
disabilities account for around 1.5 percent of the country’s total population,
and 1.5-3 percent of them are children. The increasing rate of the disabled is
attributed to the aftermath of past wars and poor conditions in far-flung
areas. Many children do not have an adequate supply of good food and proper
health care during childhood and, as a result, the mortality rate of children
under one year has reached nearly 1.8 percent, and malnutrition in children
under five is over 20 percent.
The
average lifespan in Vietnam
is high, but the number of healthy old people is rather low. Most healthy
elderly are under 60, which ranks 116 among 174 countries around the world.
During the average 72-year life, a person often suffers 12 years of illness
and/or disease.
Many
epidemics are occurring in the country, especially sexually transmitted
diseases and diseases transmitted through giving birth, such as HIV/AIDS. It is
estimated that the number of women infected with HIV counts for one third of
people living with the fatal disease in Vietnam.
The
low quality of the population has created numerous obstacles for national
development, therefore, it is essential for the whole society to try to improve
the quality of the population. The healthcare sector should focus on pre-natal
care and infant healthcare. At present, Vietnam does not have enough
medical equipment and experts to identify diseases during pregnancy. This is a
vital issue to resolve if the healthcare sector is to improve the quality of
the future population.
It
has taken a long time for the country to reduce its birth rate. Now, Vietnam must
face other problems related to increasing the quality of the population, which
is an essential task for a successful and prosperous future.
