In recent years, those in charge of the population have made every effort to reduce the birthrate and Vietnam’s population is currently facing opportunities for socio-economic development. However, many issues related to the quality of the population need to be addressed in the near future.
Vietnamese people are taking too long to undergo medical treatment, the child mortality rate remains high and overall life expectancy is low. How to increase the quality of population is now a thorny problem.
Dr. Nguyen Thien Truong, former Deputy Director of the Committee for Population, Family and Children and Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Family Planning said that the population is still facing a lot of difficulties. While other countries such as Japan and Germany are encouraging people to have children, the Vietnamese population are looking for different ways to reduce birthrate. Vietnam’s population growth rate fell sharply by 1.2 percent per year from 1999-2009 compared to 10 years earlier. However, according to a recent population and housing census, Vietnam’s current population has soared by nearly 9.5 million from 2000.
The population sector has paid too much attention to the quantity rather than the quality of the population, which includes such factors as physical and mental development and population scale and structure.
A recent survey of the quality of the population has shown that people with disabilities account for around 1.5 percent of the country’s total population, and 1.5-3 percent of them are children. The increasing rate of the disabled is attributed to the aftermath of past wars and poor conditions in far-flung areas. Many children do not have an adequate supply of good food and proper health care during childhood and, as a result, the mortality rate of children under one year has reached nearly 1.8 percent, and malnutrition in children under five is over 20 percent.
The average lifespan in Vietnam is high, but the number of healthy old people is rather low. Most healthy elderly are under 60, which ranks 116 among 174 countries around the world. During the average 72-year life, a person often suffers 12 years of illness and/or disease.
Many epidemics are occurring in the country, especially sexually transmitted diseases and diseases transmitted through giving birth, such as HIV/AIDS. It is estimated that the number of women infected with HIV counts for one third of people living with the fatal disease in Vietnam.
The low quality of the population has created numerous obstacles for national development, therefore, it is essential for the whole society to try to improve the quality of the population. The healthcare sector should focus on pre-natal care and infant healthcare. At present, Vietnam does not have enough medical equipment and experts to identify diseases during pregnancy. This is a vital issue to resolve if the healthcare sector is to improve the quality of the future population.
It has taken a long time for the country to reduce its birth rate. Now, Vietnam must face other problems related to increasing the quality of the population, which is an essential task for a successful and prosperous future.