(VOVworld)- The Ministry of Health and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) in Vietnam held a media conference in response to World Population Day July 11, which is entitled “Adolescent pregnancy”. Addressing the event, UNFPA Chief Representative Arthur Erken said there were more than 600 million adolescent gilrs in the world, 500 million of them live in developing countries. About 16 million girls aged between 15 and 19 give birth each year. Of them, 9 out of every 10 girls are married. In Vietnam, 35.4% of adolescent aged between 15 and 19 lack important information about contraceptive tools while that rate among the youth aged between 20 to 24 years old is 34.6%. The Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Viet Tien, said that the ministry would strengthen measures to reduce the rate of adolescent pregnancy in the coming years:“The rate is higher in the ethnic minority groups and in the remote areas. So the Ministry of Health will focus more on these groups by publicizing the information necessary to raise their awareness about the dangers and consequences of having sex at a young age. We will also instruct them about safe contraceptive methods which can help to avoid unwanted pregnancies