Vice President of the Vietnam Women's Union Nguyễn Thị Minh Hương. VNA/VNS Photo Phạm Kiên

Adolescent pregnancy became a public concern recently when a teen student in northern Bắc Giang Province gave birth in her bathroom in secret. Vice President of the Vietnam Women's Union Nguyễn Thị Minh Hương spoke to Vietnam News Agency about how education on sexual and reproductive health for teenagers must be a top priority as adolescent pregnancy causes serious consequences for children's health and future lives, and significantly affects the quality of the population and society.

Adolescent pregnancy has become an increasing problem recently. Could you talk about the consequences of adolescent pregnancy?

I’ve been deeply concerned about girls being abused or having sex, which can lead to an unexpected pregnancy. Acts of sexual intercourse or sexual abuse with people under the age of 16 are illegal. According to experts, teenage pregnancy seriously affects the health, education and development opportunities of girls.

In terms of health, pregnant girls face serious health risks when their bodies are not fully developed due to pregnancy complications. Children of adolescent mothers are more likely to have low birth weight, morbidity and mortality than those of adult mothers. These babies will find it difficult to receive adequate care due to the mother's lack of parenting knowledge and skills.

Psychologically, most teen mothers will go through a complex psychological process and are prone to depression, stress, and negative thoughts. In many cases, children can experience problems such as anxiety disorders, depression, and even suicide without timely support and encouragement from their family and loved ones.

In terms of education, one of the most visible consequences of teenage pregnancy is that teen mothers have to suspend their education or even drop out of school. As a result, they will be disadvantaged more than their peers in terms of learning and employment opportunities.

How has adolescent sex education been implemented in the past? What should be done to improve the efficiency of sex education?

It can be seen that some adolescents have open attitudes about love and sex, but they lack knowledge related to sex and reproductive health. Meanwhile, education on sex and reproductive health has not been given due attention. There has not been a timely intervention of relevant agencies as well as close coordination between schools and families.

At schools, sex education isn’t really effective due to the content, time and method of teaching. Teachers do not have enough skills and methods to communicate and connect with students, creating a comfortable environment for them to share their problems so that they can support them in a timely manner.

At home, many parents are not really aware of the importance of sex education for their children and their responsibility of doing it. Many parents still leave it to the school or think that sex is private and delicate, that children will learn by themselves when they grow up, so they often avoid talking about it. Even when children have a need to learn, many parents hastily label their children ‘spoiled’. The lack of trust and mutual understanding between parents and their children has led to a widening gap between parents and children in terms of sex education, reproductive health or understanding of sexual and reproductive health.

In terms of authorized agencies, the management of depraved pornographic information harmful to minors remains limited and doesn’t create a barrier to protect children.

In order to fill the gaps in sex education, I think it is necessary to put sex and reproductive health education among the top priorities in teenager care and protection. It requires the synchronous participation of all interdisciplinary agencies.

In addition, it is necessary to change the awareness and methods of educating children. Instead of blocking students from sex education, schools and families should create a suitable environment for children to share their questions about gender, sexuality, and at the same time, teach them about love, friendship, safe sex and measures to protect themselves properly.

What measures has the Vietnam Women's Union taken to help reduce teenage pregnancy?

As an organisation to care for and protect the legitimate rights and interests of women, the Vietnam Women's Union has implemented a number of solutions to prevent teenage pregnancy.

First, we focus on family education in the community and education on parenting and child care. We raise public awareness about sex education, pre-marital education, skills against child abuse for children, parents and caregivers; build and replicate models to support parents to take care of their children based on the community such as the mother and daughter clubs and forms of legal education for families and children.

Second, we maximize the role of working groups to ensure safety for women and children, and speak out about cases of child sexual abuse in all channels. We actively organise social criticism against inadequate policies related to women and children, research and propose policies that build a safe environment for children, even in cyberspace, as it brings a great impact on children's attitudes and behaviors.

Third, we strengthen coordination among families, schools and functional sectors to equip and improve knowledge and safe life skills for children in various forms.

The union will work with the Ministry of Education and Training to build a national programme on parenting education. We hope these measures will contribute to reducing cases of sexual abuse and unexpected pregnancy. – VNS