A pilot “Milk for schools” programme in the northern province of BacNinh has benefited 12,000 children under six years old, helping reducechild malnutrition rate in the locality significantly.
Do ThiDiep, head of the Nursery Education Office under the provincialDepartment of Education and Training, said the programme, launched lastSeptember, was realised at 24 local nursery schools in a number ofdistricts, including Thuan Thanh, Gia Binh, Que Vo, Yen Phong and LuongTai.
Under the programme, each child was offered with 200 millilitres of milk free, three times a week, nine months a year.
As a result, the rate of stunted children at the schools dropped to4.37 percent against the 8 percent rate reported before the programme,while that of weight malnutrition among the group was down to 3 percent.
Bac Ninh plans to expand the programme to all of its nursery schoolsbetween 2014 and 2017, with the number of beneficiaries reaching up to230,000.
The “milk for schools” programme, which has run from2013 through 2017, costs some 178 billion VND (8.39 million USD), ofwhich 50 percent has come from the local budget, 25 percent from themilk suppliers and the rest from children’s parents and social funding.
Bac Ninh now has a total of 155 nursery schools.
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), one-third ofVietnamese children under the age of five are stunted as a result ofmalnutrition. However, Vietnam is managing to fix the problem.
Data from the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG)initiative shows that the rate of child malnutrition in Vietnam isdeclining by 1.5 percent every year. From 44 percent in 1994, the ratehas dropped to under 20 percent at present.-VNA
Do ThiDiep, head of the Nursery Education Office under the provincialDepartment of Education and Training, said the programme, launched lastSeptember, was realised at 24 local nursery schools in a number ofdistricts, including Thuan Thanh, Gia Binh, Que Vo, Yen Phong and LuongTai.
Under the programme, each child was offered with 200 millilitres of milk free, three times a week, nine months a year.
As a result, the rate of stunted children at the schools dropped to4.37 percent against the 8 percent rate reported before the programme,while that of weight malnutrition among the group was down to 3 percent.
Bac Ninh plans to expand the programme to all of its nursery schoolsbetween 2014 and 2017, with the number of beneficiaries reaching up to230,000.
The “milk for schools” programme, which has run from2013 through 2017, costs some 178 billion VND (8.39 million USD), ofwhich 50 percent has come from the local budget, 25 percent from themilk suppliers and the rest from children’s parents and social funding.
Bac Ninh now has a total of 155 nursery schools.
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), one-third ofVietnamese children under the age of five are stunted as a result ofmalnutrition. However, Vietnam is managing to fix the problem.
Data from the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG)initiative shows that the rate of child malnutrition in Vietnam isdeclining by 1.5 percent every year. From 44 percent in 1994, the ratehas dropped to under 20 percent at present.-VNA
