Hanoi (VNA) — Post Caesarean section complications, job security and many other issuesare discouraging women, especially in big cities, from having more childrenwhile official policy encourages them to do so.

The Ministry of Health’s Population and Family Planning Department has beenplanning ways to encourage women to have more babies in order to raise thenation’s fertility rate and maintain its “golden demographics,” when workingpeople outnumber dependents.

The golden demographics situation in Vietnam is being undermined by lowerfertility and mortality rates, leading to a rapidly aging population, expertshave said.

However, there are many barriers to women in urban areas, where fertility ratesare the lowest, having more children.

Le Thi Mai Ngoan of Go Vap district in Ho Chi Minh City already has two sons, butbecause she and her husband were earning enough to bring up another baby, theydecided to try for a daughter.

However, just a few weeks into her pregnancy, she lost her fetus. Doctors foundthat the fetus was stuck in her C-section scars and posed a serious threat toher life if it was not removed surgically, the Sai GonTimes reported.

Nguyen Thi Hoa, 26, of Hanoi’s Me Linh district, has a 4-year-old son and wantsto have another child. But she and her husband are hesitant because they onlyearn about 9 million VND (396 USD) per month.

“If we have another baby, we won’t be able to meet our daily expenses,” shesaid.

Many women living in major cities are also under high work pressure and do notwant to have another child. Having another child would mean at least six monthsoff from work, which might rob them of promotion opportunities or even costthem their job.

The General Statistics Office has said that Vietnam’s fertility rate (childrenborn per woman) has plunged from 6.39 to 2.04 between 1960 and 2017. HCM Cityhas the lowest fertility rate at 1.46 for the last nine years.

Meanwhile, Vietnam is ranked as one of five countries with the fastest rate ofpopulation aging in the world, and it is estimated that by 2050, some 25 percent of Vietnamese will be senior citizens.

Experts have said that the low fertility combined with population aging wouldreduce working-age people and significantly impact national socio-economicdevelopment.

Too many C-sections

Nguyen Ba My Nhi, deputy head of the Tu Du Hospital, said the ratio of womengiving birth by C-section was high and rising in Vietnam, so the risk of newfetuses stuck in old C-section scars also increased.

“It makes women very worried about having more babies because it can be lifethreatening,” he said.

The ratio of women giving birth by C-section is around 40 percent in Vietnam,against the 15 percent that is considered healthy.

Nhi said the Government should issue policies encouraging women to give birthnaturally, without resorting to C-sections. Then they do not have to be afraidof having more babies, he said.

Ho Manh Tuong, Chairman of HCM City Reproductive Endocrinology and InfertilityAssociation (HOSREM) said: “Low fertility is a problem not only in Vietnam. Itis a headache common to both developed and developing countries.”

The more the society developed, the lower the fertility rate, so currentpolicies had to be changed to deal with the problem, Tuong said.

He noted that in some developed countries, the governments support women whodeliver babies with daily expenses, tuition fees and other incentives. Womenbeing treated for infertility also receive financial support from thegovernments, he said.

"We should learn from this," he added.

Women should also be offered longer maternity leave without the worry of losingtheir jobs, he said.

It is also imperative that couples are made more aware of the importance andsignificance of the fertility rate for the nation’s socio-economic development,he added. VNA