Vietnam should give top priority to dealing with malnutrition amongchildren – the country’s future, experts advised at a seminar in thecentral city of Da Nang on April 16.

Participants at the event, co-organised by the National AssemblyStanding Committee’s Institute for Legislative Studies and the UNChildren’s Fund (UNICEF), stressed the need to include nutritionexamination and consultancy services and special treatment products inthe list of things covered by health insurance.

Thiswill be the best measure to provide timely prevention and treatment toall malnourished children in Vietnam, easing burdens caused by thedisease and bringing the rate of stunted children under the age of fivedown to below 23 percent by 2020, they said.

Ass.Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Lam, Deputy Director of the National NutritionInstitute, said that the revised Health Insurance Law should featurepayments for nutrition examination and consultancy services and specialtreatment products for ill-nourished children under six.

NA deputy Duong Trung Quoc affirmed that children should have abalanced, suitable and scientific nutrition regime to gain comprehensivephysical and intellectual developments.

Accordingto Tong Thi Song Huong, head of the Health Insurance Department underthe Health Ministry, the draft revised law makes many amendments andadditions to the existing ones, including specific regulations on theresponsibilities of communal People’s Committees and health insuranceorganisations in planning coverage for children under six.

Vietnam ranks 13th in the world in the malnutrition burden with morethan 2.5 million under-five underfed children, mainly living innorthwestern and Central Highlands regions.-VNA