School Nutrition: Recommendations for Vietnam from Lessons Learned Around the World

Lessons from countries around the world

Following the first International Conference "Nutrition for Vietnamese People" in 2018, this Conference shared a comprehensive perspective on the current situation of nutrition and school nutrition in Vietnam, and at the same time, provided valuable lessons from the world with models that have proven effective.

This is an important foundation for Vietnam to continue to build school nutrition policies and programs, and implement policies and strategies to develop stature, physical strength, and intelligence for future generations.

Professor Nakamura Teiji - President of the Japan Nutrition Association shared the successes of the School Meal Program in Japan, a model of outstanding success in the world. After World War II, the country faced serious nutritional deficiencies. In 1954, Japan enacted the School Lunch Law. In 2005, the "Basic Law on Food and Nutrition Education" was enacted - both standardizing school meals and focusing on developing nutrition education. To date, 99% of elementary schools and 91.5% of junior high schools have applied this program. As a result, Japanese youth are increasingly developing physically and intellectually, with average height and stature growing remarkably, ranking among the top in the world.

In the US, according to MSc. Josselyn Neukom, a community nutritionist from SwipeRx, schools are the ideal environment to encourage children to maintain healthy eating habits, as this is where they spend most of their time every day. The US government has set strict nutrition standards; nutrition education is also integrated into the main curriculum, helping children to properly perceive the importance of nutrition for health.
According to Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Thanh Duong - Director of the Institute of Nutrition (Ministry of Health), Vietnamese children are facing three nutritional burdens: malnutrition, overweight and obesity, and micronutrient deficiencies.

To address this situation, the Vietnamese Government has issued the National Nutrition Strategy for the 2021-2030 period, with specific goals to improve the nutritional status of the entire population, especially children and adolescents of school age. Such as: By 2030, reduce the rate of stunting in children under 5 years old to below 15%; control the rate of overweight and obesity in children to below 19% for children aged 5-18; 60% of schools in urban areas and 40% in rural areas will organize school meals and develop menus to meet the recommended needs by 2025 and strive to reach 90% and 80% respectively by 2030.

To achieve this goal, it requires comprehensive, continuous, and inter-sectoral intervention solutions, including the improvement of nutrition mechanisms and policies for implementation; strengthening inter-sectoral coordination and social mobilization; improving the quality of human resources, international cooperation, and application of information technology; promoting scientific research and nutrition education and communication.

Aspiration to fulfill the mission "For community health"

A highlight of a practical solution in Vietnam presented by Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thanh De - Director of the Department of Physical Education, Ministry of Education and Training, is the school meal model that ensures proper nutrition combined with increased physical activity for Vietnamese children, pupils and students.

This model was implemented by the Ministry of Education and Training with the support of TH Group, in 10 provinces and cities representing 5 ecological regions of Vietnam. After assessing the nutritional status and developing a menu suitable for each locality, school meals in the pilot model were approached in the direction of using completely natural foods, based on the agricultural advantages of the region, fresh milk was scientifically included in the meal composition.

The model has had a positive effect on the height and weight development of children, contributing to improving knowledge about proper nutrition and strengthening the physical strength of students, schools and parents. "It is necessary to replicate the pilot model and especially develop policies and move towards legalizing school nutrition. That will be the legal basis for management agencies as well as schools and businesses to participate in preparing and complying with the prescribed conditions; ensuring human resources with expertise in nutrition in schools", Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thanh De emphasized.
Representing the accompanying unit, Labor Hero Thai Huong - founder - Chairman of the TH Group Strategy Council expressed: “Health is the greatest asset of human life. People are the subject of society, the resource that determines the development of the country. The physical, mental and spiritual development of each individual is very important. A country is only strong when people are fully developed in both physical and mental strength, in which, the prerequisite for this development is essential nutrition such as cereals, vegetables, tubers, food and dairy products and a sustainable health care regime is needed”.

In Vietnam, TH is the initiator and accompanies the Government, agencies, departments and branches from the early days of building and implementing national nutrition programs. In 2013, TH was the pioneer in the National School Milk Program, taking the lead in building a model combined with research and testing the product "TH true MILK Sterilized Fresh Milk for School Milk".

This is the first product that has been confirmed by the Ministry of Health to be effective in research to improve the nutritional and micronutrient status of children, and is a practical basis for promulgating school milk standards in the National School Milk Project, by Decision No. 1340 of the Prime Minister dated July 8, 2016, contributing to reducing the situation of bringing milk of unknown origin and not ensuring food hygiene and safety into schools.

In 2018, TH Group coordinated with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education and Training to organize an international conference and announce the "Nutrition for Vietnamese people" project with 6 sub-projects targeting groups with specific nutritional needs, including 2 sub-projects implementing comprehensive nutrition activities for children of golden age including: Research and propose plans to improve nutrition for the first 1,000 days of a child's life; Research and propose plans to improve nutritional status and meals for school-age children.

Over the past 6 years, TH Group has accompanied the implementation of many studies and experiments to have a systematic scientific basis for policy approaches, pioneering the implementation of corporate responsibility in the food sector. Through these systematic activities, TH Group persistently carries out the mission of For Community Health.

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I want to inspire people to promote the establishment of legal corridors for school nutrition. I will be steadfast and persistent in this journey. I also have a dream and aspiration to become a decent food producer, for public health, first for the Vietnamese people and then internationally.

Labor Hero Thai Huong - Founder, Chairman of the Strategy Council of TH Group

Citing the story of Professor Nakamura Teiji, Ms. Thai Huong said: Currently, Vietnam is ranked 15th from the bottom in the world in terms of height. We need a legal corridor for school nutrition. And food manufacturers and businesses must fulfill their mission, together shouldering the country's responsibility for school nutrition.

“Not only me, not only businesses like TH, but as I shared in the meeting between General Secretary and President To Lam with businessmen on October 11, our country's business class has great internal strength, heart, vision, intelligence and talent, enough courage to grasp and shoulder the responsibility with the country to enter a new era, "the era of national growth" as the General Secretary and President said. In addition to growing in economy and civilization, we must grow in stature, physical strength and height,” Labor Hero Thai Huong shared.