PANO – The United Nations (UN) and the Government of Vietnam on October 5th launched an integrated nutrition and food security program to end malnutrition and stunting for children and vulnerable groups in Vietnam.  

The program was launched just one week after Vietnam joined 193 nations in signing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which aims to put an end to hunger and poverty by 2030.  The Government of Spain has provided US$ 1.5 million channeled through a SDGs fund to support the integrated nutrition and food security program in Vietnam.

The launch of the program

Although Vietnam has reached the Millennium Development Goals of halving both under-five mortality and infant mortality rates, malnutrition among children under five remains a major public health challenge. The launch of the program once again reinforced Vietnam’s commitment to the SDGs, aiming at ending hunger, promoting sustainable agriculture, and achieving food security and nutrition, especially for children and vulnerable groups in the country.

Accordingly, the joint Vietnamese Government - UN program on integrated nutrition and food security will target the most disadvantaged ethnic minorities living in poverty and seek to reduce inequity with a goal to improve the nutritional status of more than 36 million women in the reproductive age and 7.1 million children under five in Vietnam. Support will focus on provinces with high poverty rates such as Lao Cai, Ninh Thuan, etc. The program will also train staff and support capacity building for local institutions, organizations and policy makers responsible for the management and implementation of nutrition and food security programs. The program priorities are driven by the National Strategies for Nutrition and Food Security with guidance from the Scaling-Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement as Vietnam joined this global initiative in 2014. 

Chung Anh