Ho Chi Minh City proposes pre-marital health screening subsidies

Planning to tie the knot late this year, Ms. N.T.H., a 27-year-old residing in HCMC, initially mapped out a pre-marital health check-up with her fiancé. However, upon investigating the examination costs, the couple decisively opted to postpone the procedure because they still have numerous expenses to juggle for their impending family life.

“Even though we desperately wanted to check our health prior to marriage, particularly concerning reproductive capabilities, our unstable income meant we had to carefully weigh spending a few million VND,” Ms. H. explained.

For Deputy Director of the HCMC Department of Health Huynh Minh Chinh, MD PhD, financial pressure, psychological apprehension, and an incomplete awareness regarding the sheer importance of pre-marital screening are the primary culprits preventing a segment of the population from accessing these services.

This inherently exacerbates the risk of late detection regarding sexually transmitted infections, genetic disorders, chronic illnesses, and infertility, as well as other latent factors that could severely compromise maternal and child health.

The capacity to access healthcare services also remains glaringly unequal across disparate residential brackets. Individuals hailing from poor or near-poor households, social protection beneficiaries, or those residing in island communes or special zones still persistently grapple with severe economic hardships and limited access to highly specialized medical care.

Stemming from this practical reality, within the draft proposal urging the HCMC People’s Committee to submit a resolution to the municipal People’s Council regulating population work support policies, the municipal Department of Health officially proposed funding for pre-marital counseling and health screenings, tentatively slated to take effect on January 1, 2027.

It’s projected that the metropolis will allocate roughly VND1.6 billion (US$62,500) annually for this policy drawn directly from the local budget.

According to Deputy Director Huynh Minh Chin, amidst a backdrop where HCMC is currently grappling with a prolonged period of low fertility rates paired with rapid demographic aging, investing in pre-marital healthcare is definitively identified as an essential solution to elevate population quality right from the outset.

The policy subsidizing pre-marital counseling and health examination costs tangibly helps grant citizens the requisite conditions to access reproductive healthcare services, especially those enduring difficult circumstances or inhabiting areas with severely restricted medical infrastructure.

“Subsidizing pre-marital health screening costs doesn’t merely help alleviate the crushing financial burden, but it also strongly ensures equity in accessing medical services. Particularly in Thanh An Commune or Con Dao Special Zone, this policy is heavily expected to systematically narrow the healthcare gap between disparate regions,” the Deputy Director reported.

As noted by Head Pham Chanh Trung of the HCMC Population Branch (under the Vietnam Population Authority), the proportion of men and women receiving pre-marital counseling and health examinations across HCMC purportedly surpassed 90 percent in 2025, yet this figure remains remarkably uneven across various localities and demographic clusters.

The municipality officially set a target to continuously maintain a rate of over 90 percent of men and women receiving pre-marital counseling and health check-ups by 2030, while simultaneously ramping up the early detection of hidden risks threatening reproductive health and general population quality.

Through these comprehensive examinations, couples are actively equipped with vital knowledge regarding reproductive healthcare and family planning. They are also thoroughly counseled to promptly detect and treat underlying pathologies that could detrimentally impact their fertility, maternal well-being, and infant health.

This is widely regarded as a formidable preventive healthcare measure, effectively helping youths secure better physical, mental, and cognitive preparation before embarking on married life, thereby significantly curbing the harrowing risk of birthing children with congenital defects and minimizing the long-term treatment burden.

For Level-II Specialist Huynh Xuan Nghiem, Deputy Director of Hung Vuong Hospital, the medical facility has successfully provided pre-marital counseling and health examinations for roughly 203 couples since the beginning of this year.

This proactive endeavor doesn’t just grant couples access to critical information concerning their health status, but it also profoundly cultivates a heightened sense of responsibility in safeguarding their own well-being, protecting their life partners, and thoroughly preparing for future generations.