Malnutrition rate among children in poor areas likely to drop to 38% by year-end

The rate of malnutrition and stunting in children under 16 years old in poor districts and extremely difficult communes in coastal, coastal and island areas is expected to decrease to 38% in 2023 thanks to the implementation of a project under the national target programme on sustainable poverty reduction, according to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA).
Malnutrition rate among children in poor areas likely to drop to 38% by year-end ảnh 1A health worker gives check-ups to children in Trong Hoa commune, Minh Hoa district of Quang Binh (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) - The rate of malnutrition and stunting in children under 16 years old in poor districts and extremely difficult communes in coastal, coastal and island areas is expected to decrease to 38% in 2023 thanks to the implementation of a project under the national target programme on sustainable poverty reduction, according to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA).

This year, the project to improve people’s nutrition is provided with 270 billion VND (11.12 million USD) from the central budget, 21.35 billion VND (879,688 USD) from local budget and 1.2 billion VND from other sources, the ministry said.

A report from the Government showed that in order to implement the project, the Ministry of Health has organised a conference to give guidance on its implementation, along with eight training courses to provide professional instructions to 180 officials from disease control centres of target provinces, and published professional guidance.

Localities have organised nutrition consulting activities and provided multi-micronutrient supplements for malnourished children under 16 years old, and products to treat acute malnutrition following professional guidance of the Ministry of Health in poor districts and extremely difficult communes in coastal and island areas, as well as for children under 16 years old in poor households, near-poor households, and households that have just escaped poverty. The rate of children receiving vitamin A and deworming drugs has reached over 90% in target areas.

Meanwhile, localities have supplied multi-micronutrients to 46,402 pregnant and breastfeeding women in 1,089 communes covered by the programme, with a total of over 8.45 million tablets of the supplements. At the same time, they have distributed nearly 11.14 million vitamin A tablets of 200,000 IU and nearly 1.48 million vitamin A tablets of 100,000 IU to children between 6-59 months old.

Besides, communication activities have been strengthened following the instructions of the Ministry of Health./.
VNA

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