Number of Women in Vietnam Giving Birth to Third Child Climbs: Office

The rate of women in Vietnam giving birth to a third child has been on upward trend during past five years and most of them are from rich families, said the Department of Population and Family Planning under the Ministry of Health at a seminar on how to reduce birth rate and improve population quality on July 29 in Ho Chi Minh City, state media reported. According to a report of the Department, in three first months, the rate of newly-born babies is 219,976, an increase of 4.7% compared to same period last year and the rate of third babies also climbed by 3.7%. It is estimated that in six first months the rate of birth soared by 9.9% and the rate of third babies leap by 7.5% compared to same period last year. It is a risk because most women give birth at the age of 35 which can badly influence the health of both the mothers and babies. No plan and budget have been assigned to the department until July while 90% of expenditure for the family planning comes from state budget, said Le Canh Nhac, Deputy Head of the Department. Accordingly, the bureaus of population and family planning in localities adopted measures in order to improve quality of giving birth including expanding prenatal screening centers, calling for social contribution and training more personnel for screening prenatal centers and increase information of family planning to residents. (Giao Thong Aug 1 p10)