Since 2020, the Project "Strengthening communication and mobilization for population work in the new situation" has been deployed in 14 communes and towns in Bao Thang district. Bao Thang District Medical Center has coordinated with the District General Hospital and directed and guided health stations in communes and towns to promote propaganda and mobilize people to participate in prenatal and newborn screening.

In the first 6 months of 2024, in Bao Thang district, 417/762 pregnant women were screened prenatally, reaching 107.3% of the plan, and 387/985 newborns were screened, reaching 72.2% of the plan.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen, Director of Bao Thang District Medical Center, said: Pregnant women who come to the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Bao Thang District General Hospital are all informed by medical staff about the benefits of prenatal screening and newborn screening, such as ultrasound to monitor the pregnancy cycle, counseling for newly married couples, women with 1 child, young men and women preparing to get married to come for blood testing and screening, thereby detecting a number of cases of the disease and referring them to higher levels for monitoring. Commune health stations also promote propaganda and counseling in many forms, such as broadcasting news and propaganda articles on the commune and village loudspeaker system; hanging posters at health stations, densely populated areas; counseling on integrating medical examination and treatment at health stations...

In addition, doctors and midwives from the General Hospital, Bao Thang District Medical Center and health stations in communes and towns attended training courses on heel blood collection techniques, counseling skills, screening for genetic and metabolic diseases and prenatal diagnosis methods.

The population staff in the district also directly advises people at home, encourages high-risk subjects to participate in examination and testing to detect disabilities and diseases, and at the same time informs and advises subjects on timely treatment and intervention if they have diseases.

In the province, in the first 6 months of 2024, 3,480 pregnant women were screened prenatally, 65 cases of fetuses with malformations and other abnormalities were detected, of which 35 cases were terminated; 30 cases were monitored. 2,875 children were screened newbornly, 296 cases were detected at high risk of disease.

Sa Pa town is the locality with the highest results in prenatal screening in the province, with 81.85% of pregnant women receiving prenatal care. Implementing a communication campaign integrating the provision of reproductive health care and family planning services in particularly disadvantaged communes, health stations in Sa Pa town have stepped up propaganda, targeting groups of people of childbearing age, adolescents, young people, and couples preparing to get married.

Health workers focused on disseminating information on reproductive health care for adolescents and young people, counseling, pre-marital health check-ups, reproductive health care and family planning; the benefits of prenatal and newborn screening; and promoting control and reduction of gender imbalance at birth. As a result, people's awareness was raised, and they proactively went to medical facilities for consultation and health check-ups.