The Vietnam Red Cross Society signed a three-year agreement with FrieslandCampina Vietnam for a communication programme on nutrition education and physical strength development in children. (Photo Courtesy of FrieslandCampina Vietnam) This year the project will focus on a survey of the health andnutrition of 50,000 children aged from three to 11 at 100 schools in Hanoi, HaiPhong and the provinces of Hai Duong, Nam Dinh, and Thai Binh.
It will include campaigns on communications and training, guidanceon health, nutrition and physical development for teachers, students and theirparents and members of the Red Cross.
Free milk will be provided to students at the schools adopted bythe project.
At the signing ceremony, Nguyen Thi Xuan Thu, Chairwoman of the VietnamRed Cross Society, said the project would be useful to children and alsocontribute to achieving important targets in the Government’s programmeentitled “School Milk-For Vietnam’s Stature” which aims to improving thenutrition and height for kindergarten and primary pupils by 2020.
By 2030 the rate of child malnutrition in Vietnam would be reducedto below the global and regional average, she said.
The country would also limit the increase in obesity andoverweight among kindergarten and school children, she said.
Arnoud van den Berg, Managing Director of FrieslandCampinaVietnam, said children need sufficient nutrition and two glasses of milk everyday along with proper exercise for physical and brain development.
Height development for Vietnamese should start with propernutrition and exercise for children at an early age, he added.
The agreement is a part of the Campaign called Drinking Milk-Exercising-Healthy initiated by FrieslandCampina based on the concept of dailydiet, nutrition and exercise affecting a child greatly.
According a survey on nutrition in Southeast Asia conducted by theMinistry of Health’s National Institute of Nutrition, more than 50 per cent ofchildren under 12 lack calcium and vitamins A, B1 and C and iron in their dailymeals and drinks.
A shortage of vitamin D persists though the country gets a lot ofsunshine.
While rural areas faced malnutrition and shortage ofmicronutrients, obesity and overweight are seeing an upward trend in urbanareas.
School age is the time for children to rapidly develop theirphysical strength, brain gender as well as personality.
Since 2012 FrieslandCampina Việt Nam has worked with the Red Crossto carry out charity activities such as donating cows and giving gifts to poorpeople and victims of Agent Orange.-VNA
