THE PRIME MINISTER

DECIDES:

Article 1.- To ratify the Vietnam Population Strategy for the period 2001-2010 with the following principal contents:

1. Viewpoint

a/ Population works constitute an important part of the national development strategy, one of the basic factors to raise the quality of life of each person, each family and the entire society, making the decisive contribution to the industrialization and modernization of the country.

b/ To regulate synchronously, step by step and with periodical emphasis the relations between size and quality of population, between development of population and development of the source of manpower, between distribution and transfer of population and socio-economic development is the central task of population work, with priority given to the areas of high birthrates, poor regions and deep-lying and remote areas in order to solve the population questions and raise the living standard of the population.

c/ To invest in population work is to invest in sustainable development that brings about direct, indirect and tangible socio-economic effects. The State shall ensure enough funding for population work and at the same time shall mobilize contributions from the community and strive to win international aid.

d/ To promote propagation and education on population and development combined with the comprehensive and effective implementation of the Program of Caring for Reproductive Health and Family Planning, strengthening the role of the family and achieving gender equality in the domain of caring for reproductive health and family planning are the basic measures to ensure the sustainability of the population and development program.

e/ To strengthen the leadership and guidance of the Party and the administration at all levels for population work and to step up socialization are the determinant factors for the success of the population and development program.

2. Objectives of the Strategy

a/ Overall objective:

To build families with few and healthy children, eventually to stabilize the size of the population at a reasonable level in order to achieve a plentiful and happy life. To raise the quality of population, to develop a high-quality human resource in order to meet the need of industrialization and modernization and contribute to the rapid and sustainable development of the country.

b/ Concrete objectives:

- Objective 1: To maintain steadfastly the trend of lowering the birth rate in order to achieve the average replacement birthrate at the latest in 2005 in the whole country, and in 2010 in the deep-lying, remote and poor areas so that by 2010 the size, composition and distribution of population conform with the socio-economic development.

- Objective 2: To raise the quality of population physically, intellectually and spiritually. To strive to attain the advanced average Human Development Index (HDI) of the world by the year 2010.

3. Main solutions

a/ Leadership, organization and management.

To strengthen, consolidate and stabilize the system of organization in population work at all levels, especially at the grassroots, in order to ensure effective deployment of the population and development program. To enhance the leadership and guidance by the Party and administration at all levels over population work. To carry out effectively State management of population work, to develop to the highest level the active cooperation among the State agencies and the organizations taking part in population work.

b/ Communication and education on change of habits.

To create a sustainable change of habits in population, reproductive health and family planning on the basis of supplying adequately and accurately information with appropriate contents and forms to each sector, area and group of objects. To attach importance to such forms as consultancy, dialogue, direct persuasion of the couples in the reproductive age, men, youth and minors. To focus propagation and education activities on the regions with difficult socio-economic conditions and the groups of objects still limited in knowledge. To broaden the forms of education and to raise the quality of population education inside and outside the schools.

c/ Reproductive health care and family planning.

To raise the quality of the service of reproductive health care and family planning with appropriate contents and forms within the framework of primary healthcare and eventually to satisfy the needs of the population in reproductive health care and family planning, to limit unwanted pregnancies to the lowest level, to strongly reduce fetal curettage and suction, especially curettage and suction in minors and contribute to raising the quality of population.

d/ To raise the quality of population information and data.

To raise the capacity of collecting, processing and supplying information and data on population, to continue strengthening the system of managing and registering data related to population at the related ministries and branches, to meet the need of appraising the results of implementing the Strategy and programs on population; to ensure effective integration of the population factor into the process of making development policies and plans in order to regulate socio-economic development, distribute the population in conformity with the change of population.

e/ To raise the people�s intellectual standard and strengthen the role of the family and gender equality.

To raise the people�s intellectual standard and strengthen the role of the family and observe gender equality in order to contribute to raising the quality of population physically, intellectually and spiritually.

f/ To promote socialization, to build and improve the system of policies on population and development.

To mobilize the integrated strength of the entire society to take part in population work, to create all favorable conditions for each individual, each family and the entire community to voluntarily and actively take part in population work. To build and complete the system of population policies associated with development, to create the legal basis and motive for the process of organization and implementation. To promulgate as soon as possible the Population Ordinance aimed at increasing the effectiveness of State management through law in population work.

g/ Funding

To effectively allocate and use the different sources of funding. In the immediate future, the State shall assure funding from the budget for the activities of population work, at the same time encourage the mobilization of other sources in the country and from abroad for these activities. In the long term, to strive to achieve an investment level of 0.6 USD/year per capita in population work, of which the State budget shall assure 60%-80%, the rest to be mobilized from sources in the country and abroad.

h/ Training and research.

To raise the quality of training for the contingent of population workers in order to meet the requirements of the Strategy. To inherit and promote practical and quality scientific research aimed at ensuring the scientific and practical basis for the deployment of the Strategy.

4. Programs of action involved in the Strategy

a/ The Program of Raising the Managerial Capacity for the Contingent of Population workers in the period 2001-2010: Responsible agency: National Population and Family Planning Committee. Main coordinating agency: the Ministry of Education and Training.

b/ The Program of Propagation and Education on changing habits in the period 2001-2005. Responsible agencies: the National Population and Family Planning Committee. Main coordinating agency: the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Culture and Information, the mass media, the Vietnam Fatherland Front and its member organizations.

c/ The Program of Reproductive Health Care and Family Planning in the period 2001-2010. Responsible agency: the Ministry of Health. Main coordinating agencies: the National Population and Family Planning Committee, the Vietnam Family Planning Society.

d/ The Program of Raising the Quality of Information and Data on Population in the period 2001-2010. Responsible agency: the National Population and Family Planning Committee. Main coordinating agencies: the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Finance and the General Department of Statistics.

e/ Program of research on questions related to the quality of population in the period 2001-2010. Responsible agencies: the National Population and Family Planning Committee and the Ministry of Health. Main coordinating agencies: the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, the Ministry of Defense.

f/ Program of Integration of Population with sustainable development of family through credit and saving activities and development of family economy in the period 2001-2010. Responsible agency: the National Population and Family Planning Committee. Main coordinating agencies: the State Bank of Vietnam, the Vietnam Women�s Union.

g/ Program of Strengthening the Service of Reproductive Health Care and Family Planning for the poor regions, areas meeting with difficulties, deep-lying and remote areas in the period 2001-2005. Responsible agencies: the National Population and Family Planning Committee and the Ministry of Health. Main coordinating agencies: the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Regions Commission, the Vietnam Fatherland Front and its member organizations.

5. The Strategy shall be implemented in two stages

a/ Stage 1 (2001-2005):

To concentrate all efforts on achieving a steadfast reduction of the birthrate, with special emphasis on the areas with high birthrates, aimed at achieving the average replacement birthrate in the whole country by the year 2005 at the latest. To begin deploying pilot models and solutions on raising the quality of population. To concentrate propagation activities in order to change the reproduction habits and provide the service of reproductive health care and family planning in the deep-lying, remote and poor areas and mountainous regions with high birth rates through the organization of integration campaigns. To build the system of national databases on population on the basis of expanding the pilot models which have been successfully implemented.

b/ Stage II (2006-2010)

To carry out synchronously the contents of reproductive health care and family planning aimed at maintaining the average replacement birthrate in the whole country. To continue improving and broadening the models of intervention and measures aimed at raising the quality of population. To further improve the national databases on population on the national scale.

Article 2.- Organization of implementation.

1. To assign to the National Population and Family Planning Committee the task of assuming the prime responsibility and coordinating with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Finance, and related ministries and branches and the People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities in organizing the deployment of the Population Strategy of Vietnam in the period 2001-2010.

2. On the basis of this Strategy, the National Population and Family Planning Committee shall assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the related ministries and branches and the People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities in building and organizing the implementation of the programs of action every five years and yearly in conformity with the plans of socio-economic development of the country in the same period; to guide, inspect, supervise and sum up the situation of the implementation of the Strategy every year in order to report to the Prime Minister; to organize the review of the situation in implementing the Strategy in 2005 and to make a general review of the implementation of the Strategy by the year 2010.

3. Basing themselves on this Strategy, the People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities shall work out and direct the implementation of their five-year and annual plans of action in line with the implementation of the socio-economic development plans of their respective localities in the same period and make periodical integrated reports to the Minister-Chairman of the National Population and Family Planning Committee and the Minister of Health.

4. The agencies responsible for the programs of action of this Strategy stipulated in Clause 4, Article 1 of this Decision shall have to work out and organize the implementation of their programs of action according to current prescriptions.

5. The Vietnam Fatherland Front and its member organizations, and the social organizations are asked to take part in the deployment of the Strategy within their scope of operations.

Article 3.- This Decision takes effect 15 days after its signing.

Article 4.- The ministers, the head of the ministerial-level agencies, the heads of the agencies attached to the Government and the presidents of the People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities shall have to implement this Decision.

For the Prime Minister
Deputy Prime Minister
PHAM GIA KHIEM