VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam’s approximately 300,000 teen abortion cases—60 to 70 percent of teenage students aged 15–19—constitutes the highest adolescent abortion rate in Southeast Asia and the fifth highest in the world.

The information was released at a seminar on hormonal contraceptive methods in HCM City on April 2. It brought together more than 150 scientists, pharmacists, and gynaecologists representing 8 Asia-Pacific nations.

The seminar aims to help population activists and medical workers practicing family planning deepen their understanding of women’s contraceptive needs and alert them to recent advances in hormonal contraception methods.

Dr Therese Foran, a contraception and menopause MA programme supervisor from Australia’s University of New South Wales, said the global population is expected to climb to 9 billion by 2050. Trends suggest daily rates of 575,000 incidents of contraception use, 356,000 childbirths, 256,000 abortions, as well as 186 fatalities resulting from unsafe abortions.

A survey of Asian women aged 15–44 conducted across 17 countries showed  unwanted pregnancy rates reduced from 64/100 to 49/100 but also revealed as many as 57 percent of married women do not use contraception for fear of side effects.

12 percent of married women currently report their contraceptive needs are not being met. This demand is forecast to increase by an additional 14 percent annually. If the medical establishment fails to respond, the incidence of abortion is in danger of spiraling out of control—particularly among younger segments of the population.

Source: VOV