Last Friday, discussions were held in Da Nang about a plan to establish a screening centre for newborns, and the health care services available pre-pregnancy.  In attendance were the Deputy Minister of Health, Prof Nguyen Viet Tien, the General Director of the General Department of Population and Family Planning, Assoc Prof Duong Quoc Trong, the Director of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Mr Mark Rasmuson, and some representatives from the Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy.   

Participants stressed the need to establish a newborn screening centre in the city in order to give an early diagnosis of any disabilities and recommend suitable treatments.  Improving health care and advice pre-pregnancy aims to significantly reduce the number of children born with defects, and improve the quality of the population.

A survey of children 0 - 5 years old in Da Nang between 2009 and 2011 showed that there were 1,599 disabled children in the city, accounting for 2.4% of the total children surveyed.