Hai Duong population is improving

Take good care of the elderly

Hai Duong currently has 336,127 elderly people, accounting for 17% of the province's population. To avoid the situation of people "getting old before getting rich", from the province to the grassroots level, many synchronous solutions have been implemented to care for the health of the elderly.

Since 2007, Hai Duong has implemented a model of health care for the elderly. After nearly 20 years of implementation, the whole province has expanded and maintained 60 "Elderly people helping the elderly" clubs in 60 communes, wards and towns with many rich and diverse activities such as: regular activities; monitoring weight, measuring blood pressure for members; distributing leaflets promoting health care for the elderly at home and in the community; providing instructions for the elderly to take care of their own health, family members to take care of the elderly's health...

With the support of international organizations and the implementation of the Provincial People's Committee's project, from 2013 to present, Hai Duong has established 148 Intergenerational Self-Help Clubs. This club model has 8 areas of activity, many of which are related to the health care of the elderly. After many years of operation, the club model has affirmed its effectiveness and is assessed to be able to be deployed in all localities, thereby helping club members take care of their health, improve their quality of life, and promote the role of the elderly in the community.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Suu, a member of the Intergenerational Self-Help Club in Nam Cau I village, Pham Tran commune (Gia Loc), said that since joining the club, she and other members have been able to meet, exchange, and share with each other a lot of useful knowledge in life as well as health care issues. “I have high blood pressure. Before, I often had to go to the commune health station to get it measured, but since joining the club, I have been measured, my health monitored, and advised on appropriate diet and lifestyle to prevent complications of high blood pressure as well as some common diseases that the elderly often suffer from,” Ms. Suu said.

Over the past 3 years, localities, departments, branches and relevant units have implemented the Plan to implement the elderly health care program in Hai Duong province for the period 2021-2025 and vision to 2030 issued by the Provincial People's Committee in December 2020 with many activities such as consulting, examining and treating diseases and disabilities, contributing to increasingly meeting the health care needs of the elderly at home and in the community.

“From 2021 to now, the whole province has provided periodic health check-ups for 234,380 elderly people; established health records for 316,344 people; examined eye diseases for over 100,000 elderly people, performed cataract surgery for nearly 18,000 people; over 84% of elderly people have health insurance cards... These are really telling numbers, showing that the province has done a good job of taking care of the health of the elderly,” said Mr. Pham Quang San, Vice Chairman of the Provincial Association of the Elderly.

Taking good care of the elderly has contributed to increasing the average life expectancy of Hai Duong people. Currently, the average life expectancy of Hai Duong people is nearly 75 years old, 1.3 years higher than the national average.

Controlling gender imbalance at birth

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Hien, Director of the Provincial Department of Population and Family Planning, in the period 2010-2018, Hai Duong was always among the top provinces with the highest sex ratio at birth in the country.

“In the face of that situation, the Provincial People's Committee has issued many projects, plans, and action programs to gradually and effectively control the gender imbalance at birth, moving towards bringing the gender ratio at birth back to its natural balance. The Steering Committee for Population and Family Planning at all levels and sectors has directed and coordinated the implementation of activities to control gender imbalance at birth,” said Ms. Hien.

Identifying propaganda as the most important, in recent years, Hai Duong has stepped up propaganda about the current situation, causes and consequences of gender imbalance at birth; legal regulations strictly prohibit choosing the gender of the fetus. The forms of propaganda are diverse, suitable for each target group. Thereby, raising awareness among the people, especially couples who have only girls and young men and women of marriageable age.

Since 2014, the Provincial Department of Population and Family Planning has deployed, developed and maintained the "Typical Girlfriend" Club model with 34 clubs and 1,420 members, contributing to raising awareness for students in particular and the community in general about gender and gender equality, the role and position of women and girls, contributing to reducing the gender imbalance at birth.

As a mother of two daughters, Ms. D.TMP, in Tran Hung Dao Ward (Hai Duong City) is still happy because her children are all healthy, obedient, and study hard. “When I gave birth to my second child, who was also a girl, many people in my family, relatives, and acquaintances talked about it and told me to have another son. However, both my husband and I have the same opinion, it doesn’t matter if it’s a boy or a girl, as long as we raise our children to be educated properly and become useful people for the family and society,” Ms. P. shared.

According to the Department of Health's report, in 2023, Hai Duong's sex ratio at birth will reach 117 boys/100 girls, down 1.5 percentage points compared to 2022.