UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA)
|
| UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) |
|
ISO: VNM
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The electronic preparation of this document has been done by the
Population Information Network(POPIN) of the United Nations Population
Division in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme
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AS WRITTEN
Statement by Professor Mai Ky,
Minister and Chairman of the National Committee
for Population and family Planning of Vietnam
Head of the Vietnamese Delegation
at the International Conference on Population and Development
September 5-13,1994 - Cairo, Egypt.
His Excellency the President
Respected Delegation,
Ladies and Gentleman
Allow me on behalf Of the Vietnamese Delegation to extend to His
Excellency the president, respected delegates, ladies and gentlemen our
warmest greetings and the wish for a great success Of the International
Conference on Population and Development,
We would like to express our sincere thanks to the Organizing
committee of the Conference for having made great efforts so that
representatives Of nations and countries all over the world are able to
gather here to discuss important issues which are vital not only for our
generation but also for future ones.
We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the Government
of the Arab Republic of Egypt for its hospitality and thoughtful
arrangements Of this high Level worldwide meeting on population and
development.
His Excellency the President,
Ladies and Gentlemen
The Independence proclamation of our Republic State lays
emphasis on everyone' s right to live in equality, freedom and happiness
Freedom and happiness of humankind are not merely reflected in
liberation from all forms of exploitation and oppression but also in
having individual rights to make responsible choice on which way to
materialize their potentiality, including the rights on reproductive
health, an insurance Of a state Of complicate physical & mental well-
being.
The Population programme of Vietnam has been established and
implemented on this basis. In l961, the article No 1 Of the first
resolution on this issue by our Government stated: “ for the health Of
the mother, for the happiness and harmony of the family and for the well
bringing up of the child, proper guidance should be given to people's
birth delivery Although our population Programme has been introduced
and conducted in a relatively early Stage the Programme has only
achieved modest results. The population of Vietnam had been doubled in
25 years from 1960 to 1985. The average number Of children per women at
the reproductive age at present is still about 3.7 and the natural
population growth rate is 2.2%. This is truly an obstacle to the
development of the country.
After having analyzed the reasons that have caused the less
successful implementation of our programme in recent years the leading
Party and Government of Vietnam have issued a number Of official
documents on population policies and strategies and on the
organizational mechanism Of the National Committee for Population and
family planning in order to readjust the coordination and monitoring of
the programme thus making population factor to become a positive
contribution to the overall development of the country.
Initially we have achieved the followings:
1. Strengthening the political commitment to the programme from
the leaders of the nation and from authorities at all levels throughout
the country. In the Vietnam Constitution. the political commitment is
expressed in terms of responsibility and obligation Of every citizen on
the care for mothers and children and on implementation of population
programme. This political commitment is also constituted by giving ever
increasing investments and resources to the Population programme. If the
previous investments from the State budget were so small and noteworthy
Of mentioning recently such investments have increased 8 times in 1994
as compared to 1992 with the 1994 budget allocation Of VND 200 billion
which is equivalent to approximately USD 20 million
2. With such strong political commitment the involvement in the
programme of various social strata has been increased thus making this
programme initially promoted by the state to become nationwide for the
people and undertaken by the people. The National Committee for
population and family planning has been assigned by the Government to
coordinate the programme with the participation from a number of
concerned institutions such as: Ministries of Health, Culture and
Information labour Education etc. and the mass organizations: Women
Union Youth Union Peasants Union Trade Union and Vietnam family planning
Association etc.
3. One or the effective measures Of monitoring such multi -
sectoral programme with the participation of a large number of member
institutions is the setting up of targeted programmes i.e. to strengthen
managerial capacity improve the effectiveness Of family planning
services and of lEC activities.
We are conscious that population and family planning work can only
be successfully implemented when it is paid due attention and focused at
the grassroots level. It is therefore that a network of full-time
workers and voluntary collaborators is now being formed at hamlet and
communal level and will have been complicated throughout the country in
1935.
4. In the population programme Vietnam IEC activities are
considered a Leading factor to increase people's awareness and change
their reproductive behavior thus forming a large team of well - informed
collaborators who voluntarily carry out family Planning activities.
In a country with such young population as Vietnam population
education is considered an urgent and important measure with a view to
achieve long - term strategic goal.
5. Vietnam does not consider abortion as a family planning method.
Yet family planning reduces the number of abortions. However in case of
failure in using family planning method or unwanted pregnancy it is
considered that women in such cases can receive safe abortion with no
difficulties. Abortion is only allowed to be made in those health bases
with well - trained physicians in order to minimize its complication and
side -effects for the assurance of mothers health thus creating good
conditions for them to enjoy their reproductive rights. To reduce the
number of abortion cases we strengthen IEC activities improve family
planning services and increase men's participation.
6. To implement population programme in conditions of a less
developed economy the allocated resources Of our country is not
sufficient. So we do need and highly appreciate bilateral and
multilateral assistances.
From this forum on behalf of the Vietnamese Government and people
I would to express our sincere the international. organizations
governments and non-governmental organizations for their assistance
given to Vietnam in terms Of financial resources and exchanges Of
experiences. We particularly thank the United Nations and the UN fund
for population which have given great assistance to our Population
programme for the past more than a decade.
We respect mutual cooperation's among developing countries
especially cooperation's among countries in the region.
We support the proposal on increasing the share of funding in
terms of ODA from developing countries for population programmes in
developing countries.
Our philosophy is to logically integrate domestic resources and
international assistance thus ensuring the target- matched and effective
use of such assistance through projects which are well identified
formulated and smoothly managed by both the recipient and the donor.
His Excellency the President.
Ladies and Gentlemen.
The Government of Vietnam is deeply conscios of the close link
between population and development . considering population work as an
integral and important component of the national development strategy
and as a fundamental facto to improve quality Of life for every
individual every family and the entire society
Together with the international community we with our high
political commitment, are determined to positively implement the
objectives and goals Of the programme of Action of this Conference in
order to create pre-conditions for population stabilization and for long
- term sustainable development of the world over.
May I wish for the success of the conference
Thank you for your listening