Improve malnutrition in children

Medical staff of Hung Phuoc Commune Health Station measure children's height. Photo: Hai Yen

Thanks to these efforts, people's awareness of health care and nutrition practices has been raised, and malnutrition has also improved.

Go to people's homes to guide cooking to ensure nutrition

The Resolution of the 1st Party Congress of Loc Quang Commune, term 2025-2030, sets the target of reducing the rate of malnutrition to below 3%. Meanwhile, the rate of malnutrition among ethnic minorities in the commune is still very high. For example, in Bu Linh hamlet, the rate of malnutrition in weight is nearly 11%, and in height is more than 7%; in Bu Tam hamlet, the rate of malnutrition in weight and height is nearly 9%. Without specific measures, the rate of malnutrition among people cannot be reduced according to the target set out in the resolution.

Faced with the above situation, Loc Quang Commune Health Center directed the Reproductive Health Care and Nutrition Team to go to these two places to learn and advise people on how to breastfeed and how to eat to prevent malnutrition.

Head of Loc Quang Commune Health Center (under Loc Ninh Regional Health Center), Specialist Doctor I Tran Van Thi said: "Our goal is to reduce the rate of malnutrition by at least 1% each year. Only then can we ensure the implementation of the target of public health care set out in the Resolution of the Commune Party Congress."

Loc Quang Commune Health Center has organized a group meeting in conjunction with the Campaign to give children Vitamin A. Thereby, it will conduct a total weight measurement for children and integrate advice on how to breastfeed, advice on child care in the first 1,000 days of life (from the time the mother is pregnant until the child is 24 months old), advice on how to cook a meal for children with all food groups (protein, starch, fat, vitamins and minerals), and provide additional instructions on snacks between main meals.

Medical staff at the station also instructed mothers with young children to bring their children to the health station every month for advice on vaccination; encouraged people to give their children adequate doses of Vitamin A (for children aged 6-59 months), and to regularly deworm...

Midwife Tran Thi Phuong is a health worker specializing in nutrition at Loc Quang Commune Health Station. She is also the one who directly goes down to the village, to each house to measure the weight and height of children, carefully records the data for monitoring; at the same time, guides people on how to take care of their health and cook nutritious meals.

Ms. Phuong confided: Most of the children with malnutrition are in ethnic minority households due to living conditions, economic conditions, eating and living habits. Meanwhile, the percentage of ethnic minority households with children under 5 years old is high; the understanding of a part of the people is limited, the level of education is low... Changing their way of thinking is very difficult, it cannot happen overnight but must be "slow and steady".

According to Dr. Bui Thi Thu Lieu, Head of Hung Phuoc Commune Health Station (under Bu Dop Regional Health Center), to improve the malnutrition situation in children, the Health Station has deployed medical forces in villages and hamlets to mobilize households with children under 5 years old to practice and use clean, fresh food available at home to cook nutritious and hygienic meals.

The station also organizes the dissemination of knowledge and provides nutritional practice consultation for pregnant women and mothers with children under 2 years old; direct consultation at the health station for pregnant women and mothers with children under 5 years old with malnutrition; consultation at households with children under 2 years old and malnourished children under 5 years old.

The "going to every alley, knocking on every door" to guide people in some ethnic minority areas in the province to take care of their nutritional health has shown initial effectiveness. This is also a measure that the health stations of remote, isolated and border communes will continue to deploy and implement in the coming time with the goal of significantly improving the malnutrition status of children here.

Changing perceptions in health care

In an effort to reduce the malnutrition rate of ethnic minority households, Phuoc Son Commune Health Station (under Bu Dang Regional Health Center) encountered many difficulties. That is, many people still lack knowledge about nutrition, leading to not prioritizing diverse meals with balanced nutritional composition.

Phuoc Son Commune Health Station has overcome this problem by training to improve the capacity of health workers; providing easy-to-understand documents and methods suitable for children and the elderly, along with community communication; coordinating with micronutrient supplementation programs, advising on reasonable meals, deworming, and instructing on personal hygiene to prevent diseases for people.

Along with that, the station has coordinated well with local organizations to widely and effectively deploy campaigns for Vitamin A supplementation, periodic deworming, and vaccination for children... Participants include: village and hamlet chiefs; women's union; and village and hamlet health workers.

Thanks to the close coordination of local departments and agencies, the rate of underweight and stunted children has decreased. Many children have been supplemented with vitamin A and given deworming medication on schedule, helping to increase their resistance, increase their height, and reduce diseases.

For the people, thanks to medical staff coming to their homes to mobilize and guide, they gradually changed their awareness, understanding and practicing hygienic eating, supplementing all groups of nutrients.

Ms. Lam Thi Chanh Thu (residing in Bu Linh hamlet, Loc Quang commune) expressed: “I was advised by the staff in charge of the SDD Program about the consequences of children with SDD. I was also advised on how to make a nutritious meal for children. In addition, the medical staff also guided me to change the daily diet as well as the dishes so that the children do not get bored but still maintain adequate nutrition... Those instructions are very practical. Later, we know how to cook more nutritious meals for our children.”

Not only simply instructing people how to cook a nutritious meal, medical staff coming to people's homes to guide them on health care also helps people change their awareness. From there, helping people understand that nutritional care and disease prevention play a very important role in helping children stay healthy and develop fully physically and mentally.

Hai Yen - Xuan Hiep

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/xa-hoi/y-te/202509/cai-thien-tinh-trang-suy-dinh-duong-cho-tre-em-65533ec/