HA NOI, 5 May 2022 – The General Statistics Office (GSO) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Viet Nam launched a new project today in Hanoi to support Viet Nam, for the period 2022-2026, to generate and utilise quality population and development data, which is essential to develop and monitor socio-economic development policies, strategies and plans, and to monitor the progress to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. In the same Ceremony, UNFPA’s State of the World Population Report 2022 “Seeing the Unseen: The case for action in the neglected crisis of unintended pregnancy,” was released for Viet Nam.
Viet Nam is in the midst of rapid transformation for its socio-economic growth. The country has been implementing the Socio-economic Development Strategy (SEDS) 2021-2030, the Socio-economic Development Plan (SEDP) 2021-2025, and the National Plan of Action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Just like other countries in the world, COVID-19 has taken a heavy toll in Viet Nam on socio-economic development, as well as on population shifts with regard to mortality, fertility, and migration. In this context, reliable and quality statistics is fundamental to formulate, implement, monitor and assess the country’s progress to achieving socio-economic and SDGs targets.
With the total budget of USD 1.9 million from 2022 to 2026, this new project (VNM10P04) aims to support Viet Nam in applying new technologies and communication platforms to the data collection, analysis, and dissemination, and ensuring evidence-based policies, strategies, and programmes for the achievement of SDGs by 2030.
Addressing the event, Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong, GSO Director General expressed: "Over the past 45 years of cooperation between Viet Nam and UNFPA, GSO’s capacity in the generation and management of data and statistics has significantly improved. The project, which is part of the 10th Country Programme between the General Statistics Office and UNFPA, is in line with the Viet Nam Statistical Development Strategy’s implementation roadmap for the years 2021-2030, with a vision until 2045. We are devoted to putting the project's resources to good use by providing timely, high-quality data for policy creation, thereby contributing to the country's socio-economic development and boosting national growth."
“We are now entering into the new tenth country programme and GSO is one of the most important partners for UNFPA Viet Nam. As we always say, countries with quality data are the ones which achieve impressive socio-economic growth. Better Data, Better Lives,” said Ms. Naomi Kitahara, UNFPA Representative in Viet Nam at the launch.
This new project will focus on:
- Improving capacity of data producers to collect, analyse and disseminate disaggregated data on population and sexual and reproductive health issues to fully achieve the demographic dividend potentials;
- Equipping policy makers with knowledge and skills on application of new data;
- Exploring new data set (e.g. new surveys, Big Data and sectoral and inter-sectoral administrative data) and data communication and management (e.g. data dashboards and data warehouse) to support evidence-based population policy development, which can also be used for disaster management and climate action;
- Develop capacities for data utilisation for evidence-based advocacy and policy development;
- Prepare investment cases for SRHR, particularly to strengthen public financial management systems at sub-national level for ensuring adequate budget allocation and expenditures for SRHR.
At this event, UNFPA also presented for Viet Nam key findings from its flagship report, The State of the World Population, which was launched globally on 30 March 2022. This year’s report is titled “Seeing the Unseen: The case for action in the neglected crisis of unintended pregnancy,” explaining that nearly half of all pregnancies in the world, totaling 121 million each year, are unintended. For women and girls affected, the most life-altering reproductive choice - whether or not to become pregnant - is no choice at all.
The report warns that this human rights crisis has profound consequences for societies, women and girls, and global health. Over 60 per cent of unintended pregnancies end in abortion and an estimated 45 per cent of all abortions are unsafe, causing 5 – 13 per cent of all maternal deaths, thereby having a major impact on the world’s ability to reach SDGs.
Viet Nam has made significant progress in improving sexual and reproductive health in the past 20 years. However, disparities and inequalities remain in sexual and reproductive health among different population groups including ethnic minorities, migrant workers, young people, and those living in remote locations. Current evidence shows that while the maternal mortality ratio has declined to 46 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births at the national level in Viet Nam, it is still 2-3 times higher particularly in Northern Midlands and Mountains, and Central Highlands. Also, maternal mortality is 7 times higher among Hmong mothers than the Kinh mothers. In those locations, a lot of mothers are dying from pregnancy and childbirth still at home, and many are not attended by skilled birth attendants.
The SDGs survey conducted by Viet Nam’s General Statistics Office in 2021 in collaboration with UNFPA and UNICEF showed that only 72.2% of married women are satisfied with modern contraceptives, and this percentage even drops further to 50.3% for unmarried women. The problem seems to be acute among unmarried people, whose unmet need for family planning is estimated 4 times higher than married women.
In terms of women’s ability to make decisions on fertility and sexual intercourse, the SDGCW 2021 also indicated that 84.8% of Vietnamese women, on average, decided on their own on sexual intercourse, and 70.4% on the use of contraceptives. However, it is emphasized that regarding decisions on sexual intercourse, only 42.6% among Hmong and 61.4% among women without education or with pre-primary education managed to do so. For the decision on contraceptive use, only 25.5% among teenagers and 54.2% amongst young people aged 20-24 could do so.
“This is a recipe for unintended pregnancy, and it is part of an unseen crisis unfolding right before our eyes everywhere in the world including Viet Nam. UNFPA is calling on policymakers and community leaders to prioritize women’s and girls’ rights, expand their choices including universal access to safe and effective contraceptives and make sure that every young person – yes, boys too – is fully aware of the risks of and means of avoiding unintended pregnancies. We need to listen to the voices of women, better understand their needs, and echo their calls for equality in every sphere”, concluded Ms. Kitahara at the event.
UNFPA’s new projects under the 10th Country Programme will aim at achieving the transformative results of the UNFPA’s corporate Strategic Plan, towards Viet Nam with Zero preventable maternal death, Zero unmet need for family planning, and Zero gender-based violence and other harmful practices against women and girls. The Programme in the coming 5 years is in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for Viet Nam to fulfil the transformative promise of “Leaving no one behind.”
-end-
Notes to editors:
The project is co-implemented by GSO, Ministry of Planning and Investment; Department of Civil Status, Nationality and Authentication, Ministry of Justice; and Social Department, Parliamentary Committee for Social Affairs as participating partners, and with technical assistance from UNFPA in Viet Nam. This project is under the framework of UNFPA’s new 10th Country Programme 2022-2026.
The new UNFPA 10th Country Programme 2022-2026, with a total resources of US$ 26.5 million, focuses on the following areas:
- Adolescents and Youth;
- Population Ageing and Social Protection;
- Equitable Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights;
- Data and Evidence for Policy and Programme Making;
- Gender-Based Violence and Harmful Practices; and
- Multi-sectoral Response to Gender-Based Violence and Harmful Practices.
The State of the World Population Report is UNFPA’s annual flagship publication. Published yearly since 1978, it shines a light on emerging issues in the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights, bringing them into the mainstream and exploring the challenges and opportunities they present for international development.
This report’s analysis builds upon new data from our partner, the Guttmacher Institute, released on 30 March 2022.
Click here to download the SWOP 2022 in English: https://www.unfpa.org/swp2022
As the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA helps people obtain contraception and life-saving reproductive health services and information and empowers women and girls to make informed decisions about their bodies and lives.
For further information, please contact:
Ms Nguyen Thi Hong Thanh | UNFPA Communications | Email: tnguyen@unfpa.org |
Tel: 0913093363
General Statistics Office | Email: dansolaodong@gso.gov.vn | ĐT: 024-7304 6666
