Vietnam Among Top 20 Malnourished

Written by:
Amber Butler-Davis

Edited by: James M. Kelly
Vietnamese Children Suffer Malnutrition
A report states that more than 32.6 percent of children in Vietnam are malnourished, stunted and underweight. This makes the country one of the world’s 20 worst performers in child nutrition.

The Ministry of Health’s National Institute of Nutrition reported that malnutrition in children is most common in Tay Nguyen, especially in the north western areas and the northern part of the central area.

Deputy Minister Tran Chi Liem explained at national conference on nutrition, which was held on February 16 in Ha Noi, that nutrition improvement activities had been underway since last year and had reduced the rate of malnutrition in children by one percentage point over the previous year.

However, he also mentioned that the programme had been delayed by the economic downturn and the outbreak of epidemics. He also asked the conference members to focus the discussions on how to solve the current nutrition problem.

Truong Hong Son, the secretary of the Child Malnutrition Prevention Programme told the Vietnam News that the program this year targets the increasing breastfeeding rate in the babies’ first six months by five percent and the number of mothers having proper knowledge of nutrition by ten percent.

Son also mentioned that a target had been set to reduce underweight by 1.1 percent and stunting by 1.3 percent.

The ministry has planned to keep strengthening public communication, education and the care of pregnant women. Also included will be nutrition recovery activities and supplement nutrition for pregnant women.

Other plans in the program include providing vitamin A for children from six months old to five years old and worming for children aged two to five who are living in targeted areas.

Nguyen Cong Khan, the director of the National Institute of Nutrition said Vietnam has made fast and sustainable progress in reducing the malnutrition rate in recent years.

He also explained how the growth-stunting rate will been reduced to under 10 percent within 15-20 years. However, in the short term, he does hope that Vietnam can reduce the underweight rate to be below 15 per cent by 2015.