Communication activities for adolescents about reproductive health are held at schools in Binh Duong province. (Photo: baobinhduong.vn)
Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – Providing young people with knowledge about sexual and
reproductive health combined with life skills education is a necessary and
urgent issue, a top health official has said.
Many Vietnamese youths have limited knowledge of sexual intercourse or
pregnancy, Nguyen Duc Vinh, director of the Department of Maternal and Child
Health, , said at a recent workshop on sexual and
reproductive health for adolescents and youth in Hanoi. The recent
national survey on sexual and reproductive health by the s
Population Fund (UNFPA) in Vietnam and the Ministry of Health showed 15 percent
adolescents and young people have premarital sex before marriage.
This rate doubled compared to 2003 while in 2008 it was 9.5 percent.
Notably,
only 17.4 percent of adolescents and young people correctly understand when a
woman can become pregnant and only 25.9 percent know how to use a condom during
sexual intercourse.
Every
year Vietnam has about 1,300 abortions reported among women and girls aged
15-19.
Lack of understanding of health issues has caused unwanted pregnancy and unsafe
abortion at private health facilities, leading to more risk of infertility
in the future, sexually transmitted diseases and social evils, Vinh said.
To address sexual and reproductive health issues among adolescents and young
people, Việt Nam has set a target of reducing the number of unwanted
pregnancies among adolescents/young people by two thirds, he added.
On August 28, Acting Minister of
Health Nguyen Thanh Long issued a decision to promulgate a national action
plan on sexual and care for adolescents and young people.
To implement the above plan, the ministry is setting up and will soon issue a
project on sexual and reproductive health care for adolescents and young people
in 2020-2025.
The project will focus on promoting information, education and communication to
raise awareness on reproductive health care and provide friendly health
services; improving policies and laws to facilitate the implementation of the
strategy.
The project will serve as a basis for provinces and cities to build and
allocate resources to deal with sexual and reproductive health issues.
According to the UNFPA, Vietnamese adolescents and youth now have many development
opportunities but also face challenges such as the impact of the integration
process, globalisation, the rapidly changing of socio-economic environment and
the negative aspects of the market economy, significantly affecting their
lifestyles and psychology.
There are nearly 1.2 billion adolescents (10-19 years old) worldwide,
accounting for one-sixth of the world’s population.
In
Vietnam, adolescents make up about a quarter of the population./.
Source: VietnamPlus
