On Population Day, focus shifts to qualityVietNamNet Bridge – Over the last 10 years, Vietnam has been able to stabilise its population growth, and authorities have shifted their focus to population quality. Thus, the theme of the National Population Day, which fell yesterday, was: “Prenatal screening and treatment help improve population quality.”As part of this, December has been an “action month” to encourage and provide prenatal tests for expecting mothers. While a national scale comprehensive study of birth defects has not been done, domestic and international research indicate that birth defects occur in an estimated 1.5-2 per cent of the newborns every year. The frequently diseases are Down syndrome, Ewards syndrome, neural tube defects, adrenal hyperplasia, thalassemia, and other genetic diseases and deformities. Currently, just 25 per cent of pregnant mothers and 35 per cent of newborns are screened for diseases.

Source: VietNamNet News December 28, 2017 01:30 UTC