Healthcare urged for female workers Huynh Cao Hai, deputy head of the Dong Nai Province's Health Department, said he planned to encourage all factories in the province to offer reproductive healthcare services for female workers, especially those with a large number of female workers. "This is very vital to ensure their health," he said. Speaking at a workshop held yesterday on empowering female migrant workers, Hai said a project initiated in 2013 by the NGO, Marie Stopes International Viet Nam, had benefited women working in five footwear factories in the province. The main objective of the three-year project to "advance the social and economic empowerment of female migrant workers" through gender-sensitive initiatives in Binh Duong and Dong Nai provinces, where many factories are located. The pilot programme also emphasises corporate social responsibility of Vietnamese factories. The women have been offered check-ups, healthcare for pregnant women, information about reproductive system diseases and contraceptive methods. Information about labour and equity law has also been provided to the women. At a few of the factories, obstetricians and midwives were recruited to work at health clinics in order to provide better sexual and reproductive healthcare to their female workers. Hai said that he would encourage other factories with a large number of female workers to hire obstetricians and midwives for their health clinics. The project is also being carried out in Binh Duong Province at four factories. After two years of implementation in the two provinces, more than 230,000 workers have had access to essential sexual reproductive healthcare services. Workers have also received family planning information and services via group communication activities, mobile clinics at factories and the Marie Stopes' programmes. Nguyen Tuan Kiet, a certified CSR expert at the UN's Industrial Development Organisation, said more female workers had used reproductive healthcare services and received gynecologic examinations than before the project began. More than 96 per cent of pregnant woman have also shown interest in prenatal care now. Huynh Duc, lead compliance specialist at the HCM City-based representative office of New Balance Athletic Shoes Ltd, said that labour productivity of female workers at the shoe factories had increased and the rate of work absences due to health problems had fallen. VNS