A lunch at a school (Source: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – In 2017, more than two million
children in Vietnam were stunted and 1.2 million were underweight, according to
a report by National Institute of Nutrition. In particular, the report said one
in every six children under five years old was below normal height.
One in every four children under five years
old was also said to be .
Even more startling is the fact that about
5,000 children are said to die each year in Vietnam from ailments related to
.
Meanwhile, the General Medical Association
of Vietnam revealed at a scientific conference on stature last September that
Vietnamese have a low average height compared to the rest of the world.
The average height of Vietnamese men and
women – 164.4 cm and 153.6 cm – is ranked 19th and 13th respectively among the
in the world.
Dr. Truong Hong Son, deputy secretary of
the Vietnam Medical Association and director of the Vietnam Institute of
Applied Medical Sciences, said that in the past 34 years, the average height of
had increased by 4.4 cm – from 1.6 metres to 1.64 metres – while
that of women increased 3.4cm – from 1.5 metres to 1.53 metres – which he
claimed was low.
Son said that a child who was stunted at
the age of three would not reach average height by the time he or she was 18.
He quoted statistics that suggest height
and physical fitness are said to be dependent on genetic factors (23 percent),
living conditions (25 percent), physical activity (32 percent) – and nutrition.
However, Dr Son claimed that Vietnamese
children were not fed properly. Despite the fact that child diets had improved,
they had not yet met recommendations by the World Health Organisation nor
provided the balance and diversity needed for proper growth. He said many
children lacked important nutrients, including Vitamin A, calcium, zinc and
iron.
“Not only stunted children, but also obese
ones lack micro vitamins,” he said.
Early this week, Ha Noi Moi (New Hanoi)
newspaper reported that a mother in Hanoi’s Long Bien district had a five-year
old son weighing only 13.5 kg.
The 32-year-old mother said that she spent
most of the day feeding her son. A cup of nutrient-rich milk, an egg and a
piece of cheese for his breakfast, a bowl of sea food soup for brunch at 9 am
and lot of meat or fish for lunch and dinner.
She said that she was so sad and worried
because the son was “smaller and shorter” than other children of the same age.
Many other mothers still believe that diets
with lot of protein can boost a child’s growth.
Vice director of National Institute of
Nutrition Truong Tuyet Mai said that to grow properly, children needed different
nutrients at different stages of their development.
She said that a reasonable meal should
consist of carbohydrates (65-70 percent), protein (12-14 percent), fat (18-20 percent)
– plus fruit and vegetables to provide vitamins, minerals and fibre.
Former vice director of the institute Nguyen
Thi Lam said that height and physical fitness of children should be a concern
even during pregnancy.
She said children should be breast fed for
24 months and provided reasonable quantity of variety of food during weaning.
Milk providing calcium should be taken an
hour after a meal in the morning or noon.
In addition to reasonable diets, parents
should help children get used to physical activities, Lam said.
For example, children from two to five
should walk, run and cycle, while those from six to seven should swim, run or
play football. Those over eight years old should ride bikes, play basketball,
football or swim.
With proper diets and physical schemes,
Vietnamese could grow to an average height of 1.7 metres, she said.-VNA
Source: VietnamPlus
