Vietnamese authorities have called on the government to invest more in sex education and reproductive healthcare in a bid to curb the rising pregnancy rate among teenagers. The investment would help reduce abortion cases in young adults, Dr Nguyen Huu Hung, deputy director of Ho Chi Minh City Health Department, said at a conference on July 9 to mark the World Population Day. Young adults need to receive more healthcare, especially maternity health services, as underage and incestuous marriages remain common, said Duong Quoc Trong, director of the General Department of Population and Family Planning. Statistics by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) show that Vietnam ranks first in Asia and 5th worldwide in terms of high abortion rate, with the annual average cases hitting one million. As many as 83 out of 1,000 women in reproductive ages get abortions and every woman during their reproduction life has an average 2.5 times of abortions. And about 46 in every 1,000 women give birth between the ages of 15-19. Tran Van Tri, deputy director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Population and Family Planning attributed the situation to a lack of knowledge about reproductive health, delayed childbirth, financial difficulties, social pressure and sex selection. “Adolescent pregnancy is not just a health issue. It is deeply rooted in poverty, gender inequality, violence, forced and child marriage, power imbalances between girls and their partners,” said Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of the United Nations Population Fund. Moreover, legalizing abortion while considering any discussions about reproductive health a taboo has made the situation worse, experts said. (www.thanhniennews.com [1] July 9)
