President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee NguyenThien Nhan asked the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to supportVietnam on sustainable population development and management.

While receiving the Representative of UNFPA, Ritsu Nacken, in Hanoion May 28, the VFF leader said the research conducted by the UNFPAOffice on population and labour in Vietnam is particularly useful forlong-term population planning.

He proposed the fundshare its experience in the field to help Vietnam outline a strategy formanaging the population and investigating the implementation ofpopulation policies.

Currently, the two sides worktogether to analyse international experience and evaluate populationdevelopment in Vietnam, while also compiling a report on the developmentof human resources, which will be submitted to the Government inAugust.

In 2016, UNFPA and the Government of Vietnam will discuss the implementation of healthcare policies for the elderly.

If the declining birth rate in China and Japan is anything to goby, Ritsu Nacken said, Vietnam could lose out a number ofdevelopment opportunities in the future.

She addedthat UNFPA was not only concerned over population issues that arerelated to health but also to the development of human resources in thelong run.

UNFPA has been active in Vietnam since1977. The fund has been working on improving public access to sexual andreproductive health services, supporting the collection and use ofhigh-quality population data, facilitating policy dialogue, and helpingthe Vietnamese Government in developing, implementing and monitoringevidence-based policies related to sexual and reproductive health,population and development, and gender.-VNA