Deputy Director of the Maternal and Child Health Department under the MoH Tran Dang Khoa made the announcement at a seminar held in Lao Cai city, in the northern bordering province of Lao Cai, on November 30 to improve maternal and child healthcare for ethnic minorities in those localities.
The handbook is a health record that enables both mothers and their children to receive care from early pregnancy to infancy, Khoa stressed, adding that it includes information and data concerning mother’s progress during pregnancy, state of delivery and post-delivery, and health check-up records for her child until he/she is six years old.
Using the handbook, medical staff can provide effective treatments which reduce mortality and morbidity for mothers and children, he noted.
At the event, along with underlining the necessity of the handbook, representatives from six provinces mentioned difficulties in maintaining health records, including when citizens forget to bring their handbooks to clinics.
Khoa said medical staff should raise public awareness of how to use the handbook.
The maternal and child handbooks have been used in the localities since 2016 as part of the rural development in response to natural disaster project supported by JICA.
The project has total investment of 129.4 million USD, including 106.3 million USD from JICA’s official development assistance, with the remainder from local corresponding funds.
