HA NOI — The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) yesterday organised a mid-term review meeting of the 7th programme of co-operation between Viet Nam and the UNFPA.
Dao Xuan Quang, senior manager of MPI’s Foreign Economic Relations Department and also an expert on the programme, said some progress had been made relating to health worker training, hospital infrastructure and community-based HIV/AIDS prevention over the last three years.
The 2006-10 prog-ramme includes two components: reproductive health, and population and development. Gender and HIV/AIDS was a sub-theme of the programme.
Through training health staff working in obstetrics, emergency aid and new-born care, and by supplying medicine and medical equipment, the programme has help district-level hospitals increase their capacity.
A pilot 18-month mid-wife training course for ethnic minority people initiated by the Ministry of Health had provided better health services in remote areas, said Quang.
At the meeting, however, participants discussed funding shortages and emerging population issues such as migration, rapid urbanisation, ageing and a gender imbalance between boys and girls.
Inflation and funding difficulties had severely affected programme performance in the first half of this year, the seminar heard. Lack of funding and rising costs were also pushing back the printing of promotional material and supervision work.
Currently, the General Office of Population and Family Planning estimates that the country will need VND72 billion (US$4.3 million) to purchase contraceptives for the second half of this year and the first six months of the next year.
The Government should, therefore, commit more funding while continuing to mobilise more donor funds to ensure contraceptive security in the future, the seminar reported.
The 7th Viet Nam-UNFPA country programme (2006-10) was approved in September 2005 with total funding of $33 million for 15 projects. —
