Hanoi (VNA) - Over the last 10 years, Vietnamhas been able to stabilise its population growth, and authorities have shiftedtheir focus to population quality.

The aim now is to ensure that succeeding generations ofcitizens are healthy by ensuring adequate care for the mother and child beforeand after birth.

Thus, the theme of the National Population Day, which fell onDecember 26, was: “Prenatal screening and treatment help improve populationquality.”

As part of this, December has been an “action month” toencourage and provide prenatal tests for expecting mothers.

It is targeted that by 2030, 70 percent of pregnant women aretested for four common infant diseases, and 90 percent of newborns are screenedfor five commonly occurring diseases.

About a month ago, Do Thi Hanh, a mother in Cai Be districtin the southern province of Tien Giang, brought her two-year-old son to thehospital with convulsions and learnt that he was afflicted with epilepsy.Previously, Hanh had only noticed that her son’s head circumference wasslightly smaller than other children.

Doctors said that microcephaly – and therefore, possiblerisks of associated symptoms such as epilepsy, impaired cognitive and motorfunctions, or dwarfism – can be easily identified by x-ray imaging duringpregnancy.

Specifically, an x-ray is recommended for each week duringthe first 16 weeks of pregnancy, and once every two weeks in the next 28 weeks.

In another case, Huynh Thi Lan Anh, a mother in HCM City waslucky that abnormalities were spotted in her child right after giving birth andtimely interventions made.

“Thanks to the heel prick test for newborns, my child wasfound to suffer from enzyme glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency(enzyme that helps red blood cells to function normally). Doctors and medicalstaff guided me in following a medicine regime and proper diet and so far, forthe last seven years, my daughter has been healthy,” Lan Anh said.

If the abnormalities are not spotted early, before orimmediately after birth, the unfortunate children end up being a burden to thefamily and society at large.

A lot of this can be avoided because modern medicine has madesignificant headway in being able to discover more and more latent diseasesduring pregnancy or soon after birth, allowing for early interventions andcures.

Nguyen Manh Tri, deputy head of Hanoi Obstetrics andGynaecology Hospital, told the Voice of Vietnam that latest technology combinedwith routine screenings and tests would allow for successful detection of 80-90percent of all foetal abnormalities.

The hospital divides infant illnesses into three groups. Thefirst group concerns genetic diseases, which could mean that little to nothingcan be done. The second group comprises physical deformities, such as cleft lipand palates, which can be repaired after birth. The third group coversfunctional abnormalities, the level of which is hard to determine duringpregnancy, hard to get a proper prognosis of and not easily amenable totreatment, Tri said.

While a national scale comprehensive study of birth defectshas not been done, domestic and international research indicate that birthdefects occur in an estimated 1.5-2 percent of the newborns every year. Thefrequently diseases are Down syndrome, Ewards syndrome, neural tube defects,adrenal hyperplasia, thalassemia, and other genetic diseases and deformities.

The most common causes of birth defects are determined to begenetic abnormalities, followed by exposure to toxins from the environmentduring pregnancy, mother’s drug consumption during the first three months ofpregnancy, or mothers contracting diseases during pregnancy.

Currently, just 25 percent of pregnant mothers and 35 percentof newborns are screened for diseases.

Vietnam’s strategy of providing sexual education andreproductive health services, specifically for adolescents and youth, has beencommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Most major health centres inthe country can screen for 33 human function-related diseases, but these areconcentrated in major urban areas like Hanoi, HCM City, Hue, Can Tho, and NgheAn, leaving significant room for improvements in the remote and less populatedareas where the majority of residents are ethnic minority communities.

Despite encouraging improvements, several maternal andchildcare issues still persist, including the gender imbalance, the rate ofmalnourishment and stunted newborns, as well as maternal mortality rate, saidDeputy Health Minister Nguyen Viet Tien.-VNA