This initiative was part of the National Target Programme for Socio-Economic Development in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas for the 2021-2025 period, within the framework of a project on implementing gender equality and addressing urgent issues for women and children.
It aimed to equip mothers with more information and knowledge on health care in pregnancy, childbirth, and child care, particularly for newborns. The events also provided a better access to healthcare services for women and children from ethnic minority groups at the local level, contributing to raising awareness and changing harmful cultural practices that adversely affect their health.
In addition to short films, games, and direct consultations by medical teams, there was also mobile outreach to villages and hamlets with high rates of home births in Dong Van district.
Ha Thi Oanh, deputy head of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Board under the Vietnam Women's Union Central Committee, stated that the organising board wishes that every woman attending these activities will gain valuable information and knowledge, change inappropriate perceptions and habits, and practice safe motherhood. As a result, they will become active advocates who disseminate information to other women in their local communities.
In Ha Giang province, there are still many difficulties and challenges affecting the health care of mothers and children. The maternal mortality rates in remote and mountainous areas is now 3.5 times higher than that in delta and urban areas. Furthermore, there are outdated customs and practices such as early marriage, delivering babies at home without medical assistance, using non-sterilised tools for cutting umbilical cords, and inadequate knowledge about maternal and newborn care.
At the programme, doctors provided information and healthcare advice to over 250 women from particularly disadvantaged communes in Dong Van.
