THUA THIEN-HUE — Ho Can Mai, a Pako ethnic minority woman no longer thinks that ghosts and gods cause and treat diseases, but believes in doctors who examine, give advice and provide medicine for treatment.

US universities and international organisations provided an eight-year project to help train numerous Vietnamese doctors and university lecturers in reproductive health.

The Da Nang Women’s Hospital was put into operation nearly two months ago, providing medical examination and treatment to poor women in Da Nang city.

A group of Australian paediatricians in co-ordination with local doctors have started to provide free surgery to 41 children with innate deformities in Central Highlands Lam Dong province.

The Vinacapital Foundation and a US Non Government Organization have agreed to launch a US$600,000 programme, aimed at providing free heart surgery for poor children in Vietnam.

Being able to plan how many children to have and when to have them is a recognized human right. Family planning is essential to slowing population growth, women’s empowerment and gender equality.

Every minute, another woman dies in pregnancy or childbirth. Every minute, the loss of a mother shatters a family and threatens the well-being of surviving children. For every woman who dies, 20 or more experience serious complications. These range from chronic infections to disabling injuries such as obstetric fistula. Maternal death and disability rates mirror the huge discrepancies that exist between the haves and the have-nots both within and between countries

Dissemination of gender equality information remains the most important tool to minimising the gender imbalance and soaring growth of the population, according to the director of the Population and Family Planning General Department Nguyen Ba Thuy.

At least 200 million women want to use safe and effective family planning methods, but are unable to do so because they lack access to information and services or the support of their husbands and communities. And more than 50 million of the 190 million women who become pregnant each year have abortions. Many of these are clandestine and performed under unsafe conditions.

Health authorities in 28 coastal cities and provinces will set up mobile teams by the end of next month to spread knowledge on prenatal and paediatric health care.