Children in Vietnam call for improved maternal and newborn health-care standards
200 children in central Hue City yesterday joined over 60,000 children from 67 countries around the world to beat the world marathon (42.195km) record, with a view to alerting the government, policy makers and social organisations to work together to ensure better health care systems for children and mothers.
According to the Save the Children Organisation, more than half of all child deaths in Vietnam happen within the first few months of life, which means tackling this problem is critical in achieving United Nations Millennium Development Goal 4: reducing child deaths by two-thirds in 2015.
“Vietnam has made tremendous progress in the past two decades, reducing preventable child deaths by 55 per cent since 1990,” said Gunnar Andersen, country director for Save the Children in Vietnam. “However, nearly 50 children still die each day, within the first month of their lives, many from preventable causes. These children deserve access to the health services and care they need to survive.”
To raise awareness on this issue, 200 children in Hue, on October 20, joined over 60,000 children from 67 countries around the world, in a bid to beat the world marathon (42.195km) record of 2h3m38s, set by Kenya’s Patrick Makau. The children will call on the government, policy makers and social organisations to work together to ensure better health care systems for children and mothers, especially those from rural and remote communities and to make available to them low-cost medicine, basic healthcare facilities and skilled health workers.
“The first month of life is crucial for baby survival, but in many communities, children are still dying due to a lack of basic health facilities and qualified health workers in rural health centres. Health workers are key in ensuring that our children are healthy, and in advising parents on children’s nutritional needs which are crucial in helping them develop properly both physically and mentally. As such, it's vital that governments invest in Health Worker's training to ensure that our children get the care they deserve,” said Gunnar Andersen.
Save the Children has been helping the Ministry of Health to adapt, test and revise the maternal and newborn care training manuals that are used for pre-service training of health workers. A plan for pre-service training improvement has been drawn up, and the Hue Medical School of Hue University, will partner with the organisation to call for the approval of this plan by the Science and Training Department and the Maternal and Child Health Department of the Ministry of Health.
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