Photo: VNA

PANO – A meeting to support reproductive healthcare and family planning for people vulnerable to natural disasters took place in Hanoi on July 7th in response to the World Population Day (July 11th).

The event was co-organized by the Ministry of Health’s General Department of Population and Family Planning, and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Vietnam.

Earlier, the UN warned that the number of people forced to flee their home due to conflicts and disasters worldwide by late last year reached nearly 60 million. Most of them are women and adolescent girls, who are exposed to many threats and risks due to a lack of healthcare and essential services.

Particularly, Vietnam is one of the natural catastrophe-stricken countries in the Asia-Pacific region and at the same time is one of the five worst countries in the world to be affected by climate change. Thus, Vietnam should map out plans to cope with possible natural disasters and make sure that the essential demands of women and female adolescents are not neglected when natural disasters happen.

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Viet Tien affirmed that Vietnam needs to enhance communication campaigns, especially among women, children and youths, about risks and self-protection measures before, during and after natural disasters, and ensure reproductive health and family planning services for residents in vulnerable areas.

Meanwhile, Representative of the UNFPA in Vietnam Ritsu Nacken held the UNFPA cooperates with the Vietnamese Government and other development partners to provide care for Vietnamese nationals, especially women and female adolescents, and they will be the organization’s prioritized beneficiaries whenever natural disasters occur.

Translated by Van Hieu