Nutritional gaps that need to be filled

According to Dr. Truong Hong Son, Director of the Vietnam Institute of Applied Medicine, many localities in Vietnam are facing a "double burden" in protecting children's health.

There are still some malnourished children, and the rate of overweight and obese children is increasing. In the Central Highlands, the prominent problem is still malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies, especially common deficiencies in the following groups: Iron, zinc, vitamins A and D.

According to the 2023 national survey data of the Institute of Nutrition ( Ministry of Health ), the rate of stunting in children under 5 years old in Vietnam is 18.2% (belonging to the group of countries with a rate of stunting in children below 20%, which is the average level according to the classification of the World Health Organization). However, this rate is still recorded at a high level in the northern midlands and mountainous areas (24.8%) and the highest is in the Central Highlands (25.9%).

Most recently, in 2023, the Central Highlands Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology said that in Gia Lai province alone (before the merger), the rate of children with acute malnutrition accounted for 8.2% of the total number of children in the province, of which severe acute malnutrition accounted for 1.6%. These cases are especially concentrated in poor communes, poor households, remote and isolated areas.

The cause is not only due to economic difficulties, but also because families and caregivers lack nutritional knowledge. Many families still believe that "eating enough is enough", do not pay attention to meal quality, and practice improper nutrition, such as weaning children early, abstaining when sick... which further aggravates this situation. Unsanitary conditions also make children susceptible to diarrhea and respiratory infections, leading to prolonged malnutrition. This directly affects intellectual development, learning ability and the opportunity to escape poverty in the future. Because UNICEF Vietnam once warned, "Stunting today means losing opportunities tomorrow".

Not only physical health, poor nutrition also affects psychology. Children with micronutrient deficiencies are easily tired, have difficulty concentrating, and have poor academic performance. Meanwhile, overweight children are prone to inferiority complex, are teased by friends, and are at risk of depression - a pathological trend that is getting younger.

Given this situation, in recent years, many intervention programs have been implemented in the Central Highlands. A typical example is the project to replicate the micronutrient supplementation model implemented by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with UNICEF Vietnam in Gia Lai and Dien Bien, through which nearly 9,800 pregnant women were given supplementary tablets, 5,600 young children received multi-micronutrient powder, and more than 500 severely acutely malnourished children were treated in 2024.

However, to fundamentally solve this situation, Dr. Truong Hong Son recommends that a sustainable nutritional ecosystem is still needed, with all parties participating. From the family, not only should they worry about full meals but they should also pay attention to the quality and diversity of food, encouraging children to eat green vegetables, fruits, and fish at least three times a week. Then the school should build a balanced school menu, organize nutrition education through extracurricular activities. The local health sector must strengthen monitoring of growth status, early detection of malnourished or overweight children for intervention.

Nutrition for children is not only a story of each meal, but also a matter of physical development for the future, because each healthy meal today is the foundation for a healthy generation tomorrow.

Canh Nghi

Source: https://baolamdong.vn/khoang-trong-dinh-duong-can-duoc-lap-day-393890.html