Gender imbalance at birth is posing a huge challenge to the populationand family planning work as well as the health sector, Deputy Ministerof Health Nguyen Viet Tien has said.

At anartistic exchange programme in response to the National Action Month onPopulation on December 13, the Deputy PM said to curb the imbalancegrowth rate and bring it back to the normal level, the key measure is toeducate people to change their behaviour related to gender selection.

The event saw the attendance of ChiefRepresentative of the United Nations Population Fund in Vietnam ArthurErken, former Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly’s Committee forForeign Affairs Ton Nu Thi Ninh, and poet Tran Dang Khoa, who sharedtheir view on the issue with the audiences.

Currently, there is a shortage of 117 million women in the world due togender imbalance at birth. In many Asian countries, deep-rootedpreferential for sons has led to the abortion of female embryos and theuse of modern technology to have sons, they said.

Results of a census announced on April last year show that Vietnam’sgender ratio at birth is at an alarming rate, 112.3 boys per 100 girls.If the situation is not improved, between 2.3 to 4.3 millionVietnamese men would be unable to find a partner in 2050.

Participants at the event called for more educational campaigns toraise the community’s awareness about girls’ rights, the responsibilityof parents, families and the whole society for regaining newborn genderbalance, for the future of their own children and the nation.-VNA