VietNamNet Bridge – Malnutrition is common among Vietnamese children due to a protein intake deficiency, according to doctors at the National Nutrition Institute.

Doctor Le thi Hai, director of the institute's nutrition examination and consultative centre, attributed malnutrition among children to negligence of parents.

Three major symptoms of malnutrition are stunted growth, chronic diarrhoea and respiratory infection.

Malnutrition is mistakenly considered to be a problem of poor children, with insufficient food to eat. However, malnutrition has been increasingly discovered among children from rich families.

Two-year-old Nguyen Van Dung is barely 80cm in height and less than 9kg in weight. He is one of many children diagnosed to have suffered from malnutrition.

According to his mother, Dung had been quite healthy when he was born, reaching a weight of 8kg by the age of four months. Unfortunately, in the following months, Dung's appetite diminished and he would often be physically ill.

Dung's parents work from morning until late afternoon, leaving him in the care of a domestic helper. While in the care of this helper, Dung eats mainly meat and rice soup.

Nguyen Phuong Anh, is another case, who at 22 months old, is a mere 8.1kg. Her doctor said she was both afflicted by malnutrition and easily startled and scared.

Also, her appetite appeared to be fine, as she finished all of her meals. However, her digestive system could not absorb the nutrients.

The doctor also mentioned that her mother was unable to spend much time with her, possibly contributing to the severity of the ailment.

Doctor Hai said that in the case of wealthier households, the children suffering from malnutrition was due to a lack of knowledge by the parents, while the children in poor families simply didn't have enough food to eat.

Presently, there is a malnutrition rate of 25.5%, with cases in every city and province throughout the country.

Between 2006 and 2010, the State plans to spend approximately VND500bil in the fight against malnutrition among children.

The anti-malnutrition programme aims to consistently improve the situation, in terms of height and weight of malnourished children.

The country is striving to reduce the rate of stunted growth to less than 25% and reduce the amount of underweight children to less than 20% by 2010.

(Source: Viet Nam News)