Nearly 30% of Vietnamese children are stunted compared to their age.
Dr. Nguyen Cong Khanh - Chairman of the Vietnam Pediatric Association said that although life has improved a lot, the rate of stunted children (height compared to age) is still improving slowly. Currently, the rate of Vietnamese children who are stunted compared to their age is still high, accounting for about 28-29%.
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| A teacher checks the height of a kindergarten student. (Photo: Quy Trung/VNA) |
Speaking at the scientific conference on nutrition to help children develop better brains organized by the Vietnam Pediatric Association in collaboration with MeadJohnson Company on the morning of May 10 in Hanoi, Mr. Khanh said that the current malnutrition situation of Vietnamese children compared to 10 years ago, 20 years ago has improved a lot due to the development of the economy and society.
According to the President of the Vietnam Pediatric Association, if in the past the rate of severely malnourished children could be up to 40%, now the rate of malnourished children under 5 years old in Vietnam is only 13-16%.
Mr. Khanh assessed: The current nutritional situation of Vietnamese children is in a transitional phase. If in the past, children were mainly malnourished, now the nutritional situation of children is moving to the “double burden” phase. That is, the problem of malnourished children still exists, but there is also an increase in overweight and obese children.
Malnutrition is a disease listed by the World Health Organization in the International Classification of Diseases. Children with severe acute malnutrition are nine times more likely to die than well-nourished children.
Therefore, Mr. Khanh recommends that parents need to increase their understanding of nutritional regimens to ensure the best diet for children to develop both height, physical and intellectual development./.
According to
According to - VNA
