Speaker
Description
Introduction:
Double burden of malnutrition among children is still the issue in public health in many countries as well as in Vietnam. We describe the changes in the prevalence of malnutrition in Vietnamese children based on National Nutrition Surveillance data conducted by the National Institute of Nutrition, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Methods:
National Nutrition Surveillance data which were conducted every five years by National Institute of Nutrition from 2000 to 2015 in a nationally representative samples to assess the children malnutrition status with sample-size of each survey was around 97,000 children under 59 months old in 63 provinces of Vietnam. The anthropometric assessment on nutrition status is based on 2007 WHO Growth Standard.
Results:
National Nutrition Surveillance data had shown that the prevalence of underweight in under five year old children had been reduced. Prevalence of underweight decreased from 30.1% in 2000 to 14.1% in 2015 with the rate of reduction was 1 percentage point per year; Prevalence of stunting was 43.3% in 2000 to 24.6% in 2015 with the rate of reduction was 1.2 percentage point per year. Prevalence of wasting was 11.1% in 2000 to 6.4% in 2015. The reduction of under-nutrition was different among ecological regions and between urban and rural area. The prevalence of under-nutrition was still high in mountainous area. Besides that, the trend of overweight and obesity among children under five years of age was on the increase from 0.62% in 2000 to 5.3% in 2015 with the rate of increasing was 8.5 folds during 2000 - 2015. The increasing of overweight and obesity was different between urban and rural area. The prevalence of overweight and obesity in 2000 was 0.9% among children living in urban and 0.5% among those living in rural. The prevalence of overweight and obesity in 2015 was 8.3% among children living in urban and 4.7% among those living in rural.
Conclusion:
There is an upward trend in overweight and obesity among children under five years in both urban and rural areas; Weight control and prevention of overweight and obesity need to be timely and appropriate for different target groups. Proper nutrition from early childhood is required for the prevention of obesity and decreasing the risk of chronic diseases in later life.
Key words: double burden, malnutrition, stunting, overweight, obesity, children, Vietnam.
| Institution | National Institute of Nutrition |
|---|---|
| Country | Việt Nam |
