Visible benefits from the school milk program

“No joy can compare”

The greatest task of preschools is to raise and educate children, this is the age that the whole society is especially concerned about nutrition to have "green shoots" that are truly healthy and grow steadily over the years. Therefore, how to help children develop both physically and mentally is something that not only schools but also the political system in each locality is especially concerned about.

This is also the reason why the SHD program when implemented in localities always starts from preschool level if it cannot be implemented at the same time at primary level.

The School Milk Program is always implemented starting from preschool level to provide adequate nutrition for the "green shoots" to grow up healthy and strong over the years.

Among the provinces and cities nationwide, Ba Ria - Vung Tau is the first locality to implement the SHD project. In the 2007 - 2008 school year, the provincial Department of Education and Training implemented a program for malnourished children aged 3-5 in the community and children in preschools.

Up to now, after more than 10 years of implementation, the SHD program of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province has achieved many good results, contributing to the implementation of the National Nutrition Strategy. Specifically, the number of preschool students going to school is increasing, always exceeding the target, in 2006 there were 49,961 students going to class, by 2017 it increased to 69,513 children. In preschools, 100% of children gain weight, increase in height and have good intellectual development.

In particular, the number of underweight malnourished children in Ba Ria - Vung Tau in 2006 was 25%, by the end of 2016 it was only 4.6%; the number of stunted malnourished children in 2012 was 10.6%, by the end of 2016 it was only 2.8%...

In Bac Ninh, after implementing the SHD from 2013 to 2017, the rate of underweight and stunted children improved significantly. The rate of underweight children in kindergartens decreased by 5% from 6.6% (in 2013) to only 1.6% (in 2017). In preschool children, the rate of underweight malnutrition decreased from 4.6% to 1.6%, and stunting decreased from 4.2% to 2.8%. The average growth in weight over 4 years was 1.4 - 1.5 kg, and in height was 2.3 - 2.4 cm.

In Dong Nai, the number of underweight malnourished children decreased from 6.30% (2015) to 4.60% (2016); the number of stunted malnourished children decreased from 7.20% (2015) to 5.20% (2016)...

The report of the Institute of Nutrition published at the 2019 Micronutrient Day pointed out that: Vietnam has achieved remarkable achievements in improving the nutritional status of the people such as the rate of child malnutrition has decreased rapidly and sustainably (underweight malnutrition decreased from 30.1% in 2000 to 14.1% in 2015 and in 2016 the rate of underweight malnutrition in children under 5 years old was 13.8%); we have eliminated blindness due to vitamin A deficiency; the status of serum vitamin A deficiency, iron deficiency anemia and other micronutrient deficiencies are increasingly improved; people's knowledge and proper nutritional practices are increasingly improved...

With the support of the School Milk Program, the rate of child malnutrition has decreased rapidly and sustainably.

All of these encouraging results come from the correct and humane policy of the Government when deciding to implement the SHD project to improve the nutritional status and contribute to improving the stature of preschool and primary school children by 2020. This is also the result of serious coordination and high sense of responsibility of local authorities, schools and milk suppliers.

Seeing is believing

Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuc, a teacher at Thoi Thanh Kindergarten, Thanh Phu District, Ben Tre, said: The SHD program in Ben Tre was implemented in 2017 with the starting level of each student drinking 3 boxes of milk/week. To participate in the program, parents only have to pay 75% of the cost of the milk box, the rest is supported by Vinamilk, the milk supplier. Students from poor and near-poor households will be supported by the locality and the company so that they can enjoy the SHD program like other students without having to pay fees.

Therefore, Ms. Phuc said that initially only about 30% of parents registered their children to participate in the program, but after a while, parents felt the reasonableness and superiority of the program, so the number has now increased to more than 80%...

With the support of the School Milk Program, the rate of child malnutrition has decreased rapidly and sustainably.

The implementation of the SHD program at Sai Son Kindergarten, Quoc Oai District, Hanoi is a different story. Ms. Dao Thi Thanh Thao, Vice Principal of the school, said that because the school is located in the suburbs of Hanoi, there are many separate schools, and many parents still do not consider milk an essential nutritional component in their children's daily meals. However, when the SHD program was implemented in practice, they were able to supervise and directly see their children enthusiastically drinking milk at school, so parents became very confident and excited. Ms. Thao confided:“After only 2 months, there wasnear the100%parents ofChildren from preschool to kindergarten of the school voluntarily register tojoin the programSHDI think,"Healthy, well-nourished children who are free from diseases caused by malnutrition are the greatest wishes of their parents and us."Ms. Thao said.

Ms. Khuc Thi Mai, Principal of Ba Trieu Kindergarten, also shared that up to now, the rate of 100% of the school's children participating in SHD is a number that the school itself finds very impressive. "Mainactual effectof the program has brought to the studentsand the consensus of both family and schoolwithDesire to bring the best to do the bestThis. Parents voluntarily register their children to participate in the program!”, said Ms. Mai.

In the new school year 2019-2020, Hanoi continues to strengthen leadership, direction, and coordination with relevant levels and sectors to achieve a rate of over 90% of students participating in the SHD program. In particular, step up propaganda so that groups of children, independent and private kindergartens know about this program and organize parents to register to participate so as not to affect the rights of children, pay attention to the reception and preservation of milk at these facilities to ensure quality.

Mr. Ngo Van Quy - Vice Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee

The humanity of the program is also in the fact that students from poor and near-poor households can drink school milk like other students without having to pay any fees.

Mr. Pham Xuan Tien - Deputy Director of Hanoi Department of Education and Training affirmed:“The best way to promote it is to do it well, put safety and quality first as we have done and do it better so that people can feel secure, trust and voluntarily register their children to participate in SHĐ.”

There are 60 countries in the world implementing the School Milk program. In Vietnam, the program is also being implemented in 17 provinces and cities such as: Hanoi, Da Nang, Khanh Hoa, Bac Ninh, Binh Duong, Ha Nam, Ninh Thuan... and most recently, Ho Chi Minh City and Vinh Long will be the next two localities to implement the School Milk program in the 2019-2020 school year. The number of localities implementing the School Milk project has continuously increased over the years, demonstrating the correctness of a highly humane program of the Government with positive and visible results in contributing to improving the physical and nutritional conditions of Vietnamese children.