Medical staff offer advice on family planning methods to women in Ninh Hiep Commune, Gia Lam District, Ha Noi.

VietNamNet Bridge - The implementation of family planning campaigns throughout the nation showed a sharp downward trend in the first quarter of 2008.

Director of the Health Ministry’s Population Information Centre, Nguyen Quoc Anh, said the number of communes carrying out campaigns was just a quarter of that in the same period last year.

The campaigns, usually implemented in the first few months of a year, are considered as a highly effective way to control the whole year’s birth rate.

Anh said the number of third children in families born in January increased in 23 out of 62 cities and provinces in Viet Nam compared to the same month last year, showing that more were conceived in the previous April.

In total, 83,875 children were born in January this year, according to updated population information. This was an increase of 53 children, or 0.63 per thousand, against last January, said Anh.

Half of all cities and provinces also reported higher birth rates this January.

"It’s not a completely new trend," said the Health Ministry’s Population Department director, Pham Ba Nhat.

"Viet Nam failed to meet last year’s target set by the National Assembly to reduce the birth rate by 0.3 per thousand. I don’t think we can meet the target again this year. It’s a gloomy situation," he said.

"In the worst scenario, Viet Nam’s birth rate may grow throughout this year."

Nhat said the nation could do nothing to improve the situation this year as women whose pregnancy began in April would give birth next year.

Nhat said the higher birth rate was the result of "loosening" population management, caused by the dissolution of the National Committee for Population, Family and Children last year.

"I want to have one more child. If it’s a boy, that’s the best thing, but it doesn’t matter if it’s a girl," said mother of two girls Nguyen Minh Khanh.

"On the income my husband and I earn, we can afford a new baby. We want a bigger family."

The number of third children born in 2007 increased by 34 per cent, from 135,000 to 182,000 in the previous year. However, last year’s birth rate was 0.25 per thousand lower than 2006.

(Source: VNS)