An UNFPA-sponsored project provided equipment and telephone lines installed at 44 communal centres and two hospitals in Hoai Duc and Thanh Oai districts.

The UN body also helped to ensure all women in the two districts receive three medical check-ups during pregnancy and post-natal check-ups in the first week after delivery.

The proportion of babies born with an initial birth weight of less than 2.5kg has fallen from 4.9 percent to 2.2 percent in Hoai Duc district and from 2.7 percent to 1.9 percent in Thanh Oai district.

The organisation has provided reproductive healthcare training to many doctors and midwives in the beneficiary districts as well as 440 social workers.