Hanoi (VNA) – The World Bank (WB) and the United NationsChildren’s Fund (UNICEF) have called for solid steps to handle undernutritionamong Vietnamese children, and reaffirmed their strong commitments to work withthe Government in this issue as the country is building its socio-economicdevelopment strategy for 2021-2030.

WB Country Director for Vietnam Ousmane Dione said: “The stakes are high –stunting will continue to affect one in every four Vietnamese children,permanently impairing their development and squandering their potentialcontribution to the economy, unless proper interventions are conducted during achild’s first two years of life”.

He said the stakes are even higher for children from ethnic minorities who aredisproportionately affected and have fewer resources.

Meanwhile, UNICEF Representative in Vietnam Rana Flowers said that ensuring thebest possible nutrition for children in the first years will absolutely reapbenefits for the physical health of children, and it will also fuel their braindevelopment and capacity to learn, thus reducing long-term health costs andincreasing education outcomes.

“The provision of micronutrients to children and pregnant women is aninvestment that Governments make in order to achieve a rate of return to theirlong-term economic growth. Development partners are committed to bringingglobal expertise and support, and count on the increasing ownership and leadershipof Government of Vietnam to address the nutrition challenges”, she said.

While Vietnam has made remarkable progress inimproving overall human capital outcomes, reducing undernutrition is apersistent challenge. According to UNICEF, more than 230,000 children under 5years old in Vietnam suffer from severe acute malnutrition every year, which isa major cause of stunting and death in children under 5.

A new World Bank report “Persistent Malnutrition in Ethnic Minority Communitiesof Vietnam: Issues and Options or Policy and Interventions” found that nearlyone-third ethnic minority children are affected by stunting, more than twice asmuch as the Kinh majority, and 21 percent of ethnic minority children areunderweight, a ratio 2.5 times higher than that of their Kinh peers.

Nutrition interventions are most effective during the first 1,000 days of lifefrom the first day of pregnancy until the child’s second birthday.Undernutrition during this period could lead to extensive and largely irreversibledamage to physical and cognitive development.
Stunting islinked to lower economic productivity, including a 10-percent reduction inlifetime earnings. When multiplied across an entire nation, poor nutrition cancost a nation up to three percent of its GDP annually.

As such, the World Bank and UNICEF recommend several policy actions includingsecuring adequate and predictable financing for nutrition-related programs,building multisectoral plans to address the underlying determinants ofundernutrition, and scaling up evidence-based interventions./.