A medical worker is advising a couple to have pre-marital health check-ups to screen

This morning, the Department of Health of Ho Chi Minh City held a launching ceremony for an integrated communication campaign with the provision of services to improve population quality in areas with low fertility in 2023.

At the launching ceremony, Director of the Sub-Department of Population and Family Planning of Ho Chi Minh City Pham Chanh Trung said that the southern largest city is facing a serious demographic downturn and the prospect of a rapidly aging population.

With a fertility rate of 1.39 children/woman of reproductive age, Ho Chi Minh City is one of the localities with the lowest fertility rate in the country. The city's economy continues to develop while the urbanization rate is high, and international integration is deepening, the prolonged low fertility rate will leave many consequences. Consequences of an aging population include increased costs to the economy, increased pressure on health services, increased competition for jobs or decreased participation in the workforce,

Besides, the percentage of people over 60 years old in Ho Chi Minh City has surpassed 10 percent. In 2022, the city has 1.033 million people over 60 years old, accounting for 11.03 percent of the total population. This metric also marks a milestone in how fast the Southeast Asian country is moving towards population aging.

This population boom will put increased pressure on Social Security and public health services for the elderly such as pensions, health insurance, social benefits, healthcare, and entertainment. The problem of low fertility and the aging population will cause a decline in human resources, especially young workers, affecting the city’s socio-economic development, said Mr. Pham Chanh Trung.

To tackle the low fertility rate in HCMC, the health sector calls on people to join hands to carry out the campaign ‘Each family, each couple should have 2 children’ because each couple has 2 children, which will help to improve fertility, prolong golden population period, and slow the aging process of the population.

Simultaneously, young people’s awareness about the importance of pre-marital health check-ups to screen, detect and promptly treat diseases related to reproductive health should be raised.

This campaign has been carried out in 159 communes, wards citywide from July 7 to September 9 with many activities to help people access services to improve the quality of the population, safety and efficiency.

The campaign targeted that over 50 percent of young men and women who are about to get married receive counseling and medical examination while 80 percent of couples of reproductive age provided information. Moreover, it will provide the service package of prenatal screening, diagnosis and treatment, the pre-marital health check-up service package for couples and the health check-up package for the elderly.

Source: SGGP