Yen Bai pays attention to the health care of mothers and children in ethnic minority areas

Project 7 “Caring for people’s health, improving physical condition and stature of ethnic minorities; preventing child malnutrition” is one of 10 projects under the National Target Program for Economic Development – society in ethnic minority and mountainous areas in the period 2021-2023.

Phase I project (from 2021 to 2025) was approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 1719/QD-TTg dated October 14, 2021 with the goal of improving the health of ethnic minorities in terms of health. physical and mental health, stature, longevity; Strengthen grassroots medical work so that ethnic minorities have access to modern health care services; continue to control and gradually eliminate epidemics in ethnic minority and mountainous areas.

Implementing Project 7, Master and Doctor Le Thi Hong Van – Director of Yen Bai Department of Health said: “Yen Bai is a mountainous province with 30 ethnic groups living together, including ethnic minorities. accounting for 56.24% of the population, people’s lives are still difficult, especially in remote areas. People still have many outdated customs such as giving birth at home, unscientific child care, and lack of equipment. , tools for maternal and newborn care. The province’s poverty rate is still high compared to the country. Human resources to carry out nutrition work at health facilities are lacking. A team of nutrition collaborators Nursing facilities change frequently, professional qualifications are limited, and many collaborators are not fluent in Mandarin or local languages. With the above characteristics, the implementation of Project 7 is one of the very practical and meaningful policies. means”.

Determining that preventive medicine is the key, grassroots health is the foundation to carry out the work of protecting, caring for and improving people’s health in the new situation. One of the contents of Project 7 is to improve people’s health. Improve population management capacity at the grassroots level.

In Yen Bai province, the team of civil servants and public employees working on population work from the province to the grassroots along with the team of village population collaborators have been consolidated, gradually stabilized and put into operation, and are the wings. The industry’s extended arm conveys information and policies as well as mobilizes people to implement population policies. In particular, this team coordinated to organize 15 capacity-building training classes for the Commune Population Work Steering Committee, village health workers and population collaborators with nearly 300 attendees to improve capacity to complete tasks at the facility.

Doctor Ha Thi Mong Hoai, Deputy Branch of the Provincial Department of Population and Family Planning, said: “Recently, the Department has implemented a series of communication activities, education, propaganda, and direct communication. at households to convey information and policies as well as mobilize people to implement population policies. When there is complete knowledge about population and awareness is increasingly raised, people will proactively Learn and use services to meet the health care needs of yourself, your family and future generations.”

Recently, implementing Project 7, the health sector has reviewed and compiled registration needs for training specialist doctors I from localities; Support allowances and deliver babies at home for 40 village midwives from August 2022 to June 2023.

Along with that, the sector organized 54 training classes to provide knowledge and communication skills, implementation guidance on nutritional care in the first 1,000 days of life and acute malnutrition management for 1,229 health workers. district, commune and village health teams; Provide 3,712 maternal and child health monitoring books for the grassroots level; Provide 1,600 clean birth packages to the grassroots level, prioritizing communes with home births.

The industry has also supported medical staff at 98 out-of-station injection sites in Mu Cang Chai, Tram Tau, Van Chan, Tran Yen, Luc Yen, Yen Binh districts from January to the end of June 2023; Organized 12 training classes on health care and nutrition for mothers and children for 316 village health workers. The training content focuses on raising awareness and changing people’s behavior about maternal, newborn and child health care in disadvantaged areas.

Along with that, the industry also maintains prenatal screening activities (fetal ultrasound) for 249 mothers, estimated at 12%; Heel blood sampling for 161 newborns, estimated at 8% of the total number of newborns; Organized periodic health examinations for over 6,597 elderly people in 63 integrated communication campaigns to provide periodic health examination services for the elderly in communes implementing the Project…

In addition to the results achieved, because Yen Bai is a mountainous province with many difficulties and the population’s educational level is not high, there are also large disparities in child malnutrition rates between localities and regions. different ethnic groups; Customs and practices in caring for and nurturing mothers, newborns, and children, and the situation of pregnant women not going for antenatal checkups and pregnancy management and giving birth at home are still quite common in mountainous areas. ethnic minority areas…

To solve these problems, in the coming time, the health sector, along with governments at all levels, relevant departments, branches and organizations, will continue to implement many programs and propose many intervention solutions for care. health in general, maternal and child health in particular, to continue to create positive changes in the coming time.

Thu Trang