February 01, 2018 | 23:00 (GMT+7)
Health Ministry launches nutrition movement
PANO - The Ministry of Health and UNICEF in Vietnam on January 31 launched the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement in Vietnam and the implementation of the Prime Minister’s Directive on nutrition enhancement.
The SUN Movement was initiated in 2009 with the engagement of 60 member countries. Since its participation in this movement in 2014, Vietnam has been active in scale up nutrition.
In her speech, Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien emphasized the importance of nutrition improvement for Vietnamese people and said that Vietnam was highly regarded by the international community as a shining example in implementing the UN Millennium Development Goals, especially the continuous and sustainable reduction of the malnutrition rate among under-five children, from 31.9 percent in 2001 to 13.8 percent in 2016.
The Health Minister also pointed out some difficulties and challenges facing Vietnam, such as the rate of malnutrition in children under 5 remaining relatively high, the sharp increase in the rate of overweight and obese people and unduly attention paid to nutrition for students, laborers, patients and the elderly.
At the launching ceremony, representatives from ministries, departments, provinces, cities committed to implementing the aforementioned directive.
Translated by Mai Huong