Vietnam is forecast to need VND100 billion ($5.13 million) for a reproductive health program next year, the Ha Noi Moi newspaper reported, citing the Ministry of Health (MoH). The MoH made the statement at a conference on sex, maternal and newborn healthcare in the 2012-216 period, which was co-held by the General Department of Population and Family Planning and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Vietnam in Hanoi on Dec 15-16. Participants affirmed that Vietnam had gained remarkable achievements in implementing Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but there are considerable distances of achievements among regions. Also at the event, delegates highlighted the necessity to reduce the maternal death rates in rural and remote areas as well as curb the rising rate of gender imbalance in the country. Vietnam is listed among the world’s top ten countries with the highest abortion rate, especially among adolescents, experts noted. They added that having sex with deficient awareness of reproductive health, family and school’s confusion in the sexual education for adolescents, rampancy of online sexy movies and images were attributed to the alarming level of abortion. Up to 11.2% of adolescents in Vietnam have sex and 34% of them do not use any contraceptive methods, the World Health Organization said. (Ha Noi Moi – New Hanoi Dec 17 p1)
