A premarital test is a test that offers a crucial health assessment of soon-to-be married couples in which they are tested for genetic, infectious and transmissible diseases to prevent any risk of transmitting any disease to each other and their children.

Marriage is considered a remarkable event in a couple’s life, as they plan to start a family, and through which they usher in a new stage in terms of building emotional, social, familial and healthy relationships.

Premarital testing programs should educate couples, providing accurate and unbiased information. Family background, hereditary factors, age, diet, exercise, weight management and addictions all contribute to the bigger picture.

For couples considering marriage, pre-marital screening helps identify potential health problems and risks for themselves and also their offspring. It is vital for couples to be screened in order to aid them to understand their genetics and help them take the necessary precautions or treatments.

The Việt Nam Population Strategy has set a target that 90 per cent of young couples will receive premarital counselling and health check-ups by 2030. This year the Ministry of Health has selected ‘engaging the premarital consultation and health examination’ as the theme of the National Action Month on Population and Vietnamese Population Day (December 26).

In response to the action month and Vietnamese Population Day, this month the Department of Population and Family Planning, Hùng Vương Hospital and the HCM City Youth Union provided premarital counselling and health check-ups to 154 young couples who are workers living in difficult circumstances.

These couples have an average age of 27 years old for men and 26 years old for women.

Associate Professor Hoàng Thị Diễm Tuyết, director of Hùng Vương Hospital, said that out of 154 couples, up to 150 men have reproductive health problems. About 21 per cent of women have anaemia, 4.6 per cent with uterine fibroids, 6.5 per cent with diabetes, and 6.5 per cent with hepatitis B infection. Meanwhile, 3.2 per cent of the women suffer from reduced ovarian reserve and 1.3 per cent were diagnosed with reduced ovarian cysts.

These numbers do not represent the health status of all young people in HCM City, but raise an