Vietnam needs a legal framework for school nutrition to enable regulatory bodies, schools, and businesses to prepare and comply with conditions regarding facilities, human resources, processes, and expertise for school meals, experts have said.
They made the recommendation at a workshop on "School Nutrition" co-hosted by the National Institute of Nutrition and the Japan Nutrition Association in Hanoi on October 12.
At the conference, Assoc. Prof., Dr. Nguyen Thanh De, director of the Department of Physical Education, emphasized the need to expand the model of school meals ensuring proper nutrition combined with physical activity, which has been implemented in ten provinces and has yielded positive results.
Drawing from practical experience, Prof. Nakamura Teiji, president of the Japan Society of Nutrition, shared the successes of the school meal program in Japan, a globally recognized successful model.
According to the 2023 national survey, the stunting rate among children under five in Vietnam is 18.2%, placing the country among those with a stunting rate under 20%, considered average by the World Health Organization classification.
Additionally, there has been an increase in the rate of overweight and obesity across all demographics, notably in children aged 5-19, where the rate has risen from 8.5% in 2010 to 19.0% in 2020, more than doubling in a decade.
The National Nutrition Strategy for the 2021-2030 period aims to improve children's nutritional status, with plans to control the rate of overweight and obesity and enhance nutrition education in schools.
(Suc Khoe Doi Song [1], Dau Tu [2], VnExpress [3], Vietnam Plus [4], Giao Duc [5], QDND [6], Giao Duc Thoi Dai [7], Dien Dan Doanh Nghiep [8])