Abbott and AmeriCares work to reduce malnutrition in Vietnam

 

Vietnam is a country of more than 86 million citizens. Despite rapid economic growth since the early 1990s, health inequality has been on the rise, with elevated rates of poverty, pediatric malnutrition and childhood disease in rural districts and ethnic minority areas. Studies show that among Vietnam’s poor, the rural poor are far more likely to be malnourished.  

The two leading causes of pediatric malnutrition in Vietnam are limited access to nourishing food and a lack of nutritional education. The Pediatric Nutritional Supplement Program works with local elementary schools to educate teachers and caretakers about good nutrition, and uses local resources to support the nutritional needs of children enrolled in the program.

 

The Pediatric Nutrition program began in 2004 as a grassroots effort by the Giao Diem Humanitarian Foundation with 379 kindergartners from 36 sites in remote rural areas. The children received a daily supplement of nutritious local food products, such as soymilk fortified with peanuts or sweet rice with beans, along with a chewable multivitamin and chewable calcium. Teachers, staff and parents received training on child nutrition. Abbott supported the initial program by providing a supply of Abbott nutritional products and multivitamins. After only 10 months, the children had made significant progress. The percentage of underweight participants declined from 41 percent to 14 percent, while rates of anemia declined from 51 percent to 9 percent.

 

In 2006, AmeriCares partnered with Abbott and the Abbott Fund to assist Giao Diem’s expansion of the Pediatric Nutritional Supplement Program. Three years later, through financial and in-kind support from Abbott, and administrative and program guidance from AmeriCares, the program now reaches 65 classrooms serving 1,718 children in the central highland provinces of Quang Tri and Hue and the southern province of Dong Thap.

 

The majority of participating children (98 percent) live in the Hue and Quang Tri provinces in Vietnam’s Central Highland region, where mountainous terrain and limited arable land result in lower agricultural yields than in the northern and southern regions. Additionally, this region is extremely vulnerable to the impact of natural disasters, which has a detrimental effect on livelihoods, health status, food security and infrastructure.

 

This successful initiative targets nutritional health early in life. Administered through a network of local schools, the program has three main components:

 

Nutrition: On a daily basis, children are provided with two cups of soy milk, freshly made and fortified with peanuts; afternoon snacks of fruit, bean rice congee; multivitamins with iron and calcium; one can of PediaSure during the flooding and raining season (Dec-Feb). Students enrolled in the program also undergo regular health screenings by health professionals.

Training and Education: The program provides on-site training seminars for both parents and teachers, teaching them about proper nutrition needs and care as well as how to use local materials and resources, like soy beans, to feed children.

Infrastructure improvements: In addition to product donations, grant support is also provided in order to refurbish and improve in-school kitchens.

 

Since this partnership began, Abbott has provided AmeriCares with grants to support educational outreach initiatives, training, and procurement of equipment and vitamins. Abbott also donated its pediatric nutritional product, PediaSure^â. By the end of 2008, the program goal is to have 85 percent of the children reach 80 percent of their ideal weight and height. 

 

Since its start in 2004, the program has continued to show positive results in the fight against malnutrition. Already, Trieu Dong, a district in the Quang Tri province, which has been implementing the nutrition program since 2006, has reduced its rate of malnutrition for children under five from 25 percent to 17 percent. 

 

The Pediatric Nutritional Supplement program has successfully lowered rates of anemia among the target population by approximately 30 percent, while enabling an estimated 1,360 children to reach their ideal body weight in the 2006-2007 school year. During that school year, the following health improvements were noted in all three provinces:

·         Average height and weight increase of 2.2 inches and 4.6 pounds in Hue Province

·         Average height and weight increase of 3 inches and 3.8 pounds in Quang Tri Province

·         Average height and weight increase of 0.8 inches and 3.1 pounds in Dong Thap Province

 

As a reflection of improved nutritional health in their students, teachers in participating classrooms have reported greater levels of concentration, energy, and engagement among program participants. 

 

AmeriCares has partnered with the Giao Diem Humanitarian Foundation since February 2000. Through AmeriCares' donations of medicines and medical supplies, Giao Diem sponsors Mobile Clinics serving approximately 1,000 patients monthly in remote areas who otherwise would lack access to medical care.  The Giao-Diem Humanitarian Foundation began in 1991 and provides financial and nutritional support to schools, orphanages, nursing homes for the elderly, mobile health clinics, and victims of natural disasters.