Planned Parenthood
& Vietnam Family Planning Association
Crunch Baby Numbers in Binh Thuan
27.06.11 Recently reported by the Binh Thuan Province Newspaper, the Vietnam Family Planning Association (VINAFPA), a full member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, has worked to "unite all people to build cultural lives in residential areas" through population control in poor and ethnic minority villages of Binh Thuan Province since 2006.
Vietnam's goals to stabilize its population by encouraging its people through social pressure to have two children or less is most challenging in these rural communities, which routinely have higher birth rates.
Two is Perfect, One is Better, Three is One Too Many
According to Mr. Ho Van Hung, Vietnam Family Planning Association, 'Family Planning at the level of the village and the neighborhood is needed. On the one hand, the goal is to eliminate the male supremacy mindset (that male children are as valuable as female), that women can not get pregnant before marriage, cannot be divorced, cannot get married early nor have children too young, the intervals between births should be from 3 to 5 years to allow time to care for good parenting and family economic development. On the other hand, this model is intended to build a consensus among people, to remind them, and to supervise them in order to reduce the birth rate of children to 2 or less, thus contributing to the overall reduction of population growth.'
Ninh Hai Commune (Bac Binh District), has had one of the most successful implementations of this initiative. Officials continuously play a propaganda program about population control policy in the loudspeaker broadcasting system in the ethnic minority community there. Le Thi Minh Hoa, a population official in Hai Ninh said: 'The communes where many ethnic Hoa, Tay, and Nung ethnic minorities live have a high annual birth rate, thus our model is deployed there… The propaganda is played 3 days a week, morning and afternoon… for 15 minutes each time… In addition, group meetings are held in the community, twice quarterly. The autonomous village organizations use content on population policy and family planning activities in the regular meetings, praise residents who follow our program and remind residents who do not.'
This has had an impact. In 2010 alone, 614 people in the ethnic minority community have used contraception to avoid pregnancy, there have been 7 cases of sterilization, and the overall birth rate was reduced to 19.7% from 21.4% in 2009.
Products used in the program are from the non-profit organization, DKT International, which also distributes to local for-profit vendors. On their website they state: 'The products are advertised aggressively through mass media and traditional media. An ongoing advocacy campaign focuses on ensuring that the environment is conducive for the products.'
Nguyen Thi Bac, a rural population worker in Hai Xuan said: "To mobilize the women of ethnic minorities to implement population programs--it has been difficult for them to comply with the agreements. So, we have to find back door entrances to propagandize them into a better understand and remind pregnant mothers to visit the doctor regularly and vaccinated against tetanus… They voluntarily signed commitments to the conventions of population control, participated in the campaign in full reproductive health care, and registered in the program 'to have two children or less.'"
Lessons from Binh Dinh
The same program has had similar success, according to the Binh Dinh Province Newspaper, despite difficult circumstances in their own province. More than 17 villages and rural areas have managed to reduce their birth rates to 2 children or less per family through the inspiration and vision of local leaders. Each family in these communities signs an agreement and pledges to have 2 children or less.
Dak Mang was an especially difficult commune to bring into compliance, with more than 200 households and a population of 1,091. One hundred percent of the population there belongs to an ethnic minority.
During a recent inspection of Dak Mang by the provincial Family Planning Association, Mr. Dinh Van Thoi, Provincial Party Secretary, stated that the 'individuals who violated the population control agreements are presented at a meeting to review their commitment and instructed not to relapse. Their covenant agreement required specific penalties. Those found deliberately violating population and family planning policies are not prioritized for future support funding through the program, and must reimburse the value of social benefits lost through their deliberate actions.'
Not every effort in Binh Dinh has been a success. In 2010, 15 communities failed to earn the 'cultural village' title because some households had 3 or more children. Such 'cultural village' designations can often be seen hanging above street entrances to communities. Additionally, in the years of 2009-2012, the district disciplined 7 communist party members and 3 officers and employees for violating the 2-child policy, in order to set a good example for the rest of the community. Overall however, this same district has reduced the birth rate from 22.3% to 25.2% in 2 years.
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