The effective implementation of programs to prevent child malnutrition and the development of a nutrition counseling system have significantly contributed to the gradual reduction of the rate of children with serum vitamin A deficiency and micronutrient deficiency over the years; the nutritional knowledge and practices of child care providers have been continuously improved.
In recent years, in Lao Cai, the province has paid special attention to improving nutrition for mothers and children in remote, mountainous and ethnic minority areas, not only providing medical support but also taking humanitarian actions, demonstrating responsibility for vulnerable populations. For example, in Muong Khuong district, health stations have effectively implemented activities to improve nutrition for pregnant women, children and adolescents. Mr. Ly Van Xa, Deputy Director of Muong Khuong District Health Center, shared: Health stations in the area have closely coordinated with schools to implement periodic health check-ups combined with weighing and assessing nutritional status to supplement promptly and improve physical fitness for students. In addition, health workers also provide nutritional counseling to students and homeroom teachers to directly inform their families. We effectively maintain the model of “Nutrition care for the first 1,000 days of life” in the villages, focusing on visiting households with pregnant mothers and malnourished children. These are practical and meaningful activities in mountainous districts such as Muong Khuong, because many families have difficult circumstances, so ensuring nutrition and micronutrients is still limited.
Not only in Muong Khuong, in recent years, activities to improve the nutritional status of children have been implemented synchronously in the province, thanks to which, children with acute malnutrition from 0 - 72 months old have been managed and treated with Rutf preparations and micronutrient supplements in a timely and appropriate manner. In 2024, the health sector screened 45,884 children under 5 years old in communes of 9 districts/towns/cities, thereby detecting 590 children with acute malnutrition and receiving treatment for 453 children (to date, 100 children are continuing treatment); 12,000 children with stunting malnutrition have been supplemented with micronutrients, such as Babivita, Davin kid...
Responding to the "Month of Action for Children" and "Micronutrient Day", every year, Lao Cai province always seriously implements the program of supplementing high doses of vitamin A and deworming for children of all ages with coverage maintained at over 98%. Specifically, in 2024, the province will supplement 2 doses of vitamin A for more than 64,000 children aged 6 - 59 months, reaching 99.4%; deworming for children aged 24 - 60 months reaching 99.3%. The whole province continues to maintain activities and build a total of 66 new models of "Nutrition care in the first 1,000 days of life". At the same time, nutritioneducation and communication activities are also deployed on many different channels with diverse and rich content, attracting the attention of the community, thereby improving knowledge and nutrition practices for the people.
According to Mr. Luc Hau Giang, Deputy Director of the Department of Health, to prevent micronutrient deficiency, each person and each family should organize diverse daily meals and combine many types of food, prioritize choosing and using foods rich in micronutrients, such as: liver, eggs, milk, beef, carrots, pumpkin... Mothers need to breastfeed their babies within the first hour after birth; exclusively breastfeed their babies for the first 6 months, breastfeed them until 24 months of age or longer, along with a reasonable supplementary diet. People should use locally available micronutrient-rich foods for their children's daily supplementary meals; add fat or cooking oil to increase the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin K; give children of the right age high doses of vitamin A twice a year according to the instructions of the commune and ward health stations. Children over 2 years old need to take deworming medicine twice a year; Women of childbearing age and pregnant women should take iron, folic acid or multivitamin tablets as directed.
Above all, to effectively and sustainably prevent micronutrient deficiencies, it is necessary to have the participation of all levels and sectors, raise people's awareness of the harmful effects of micronutrient deficiencies and implement remedial measures, contributing to improving children's physical health.
Micronutrients include vitamins and minerals that are essential to the body in very small amounts but play an extremely important role in growth, physical and intellectual development and disease prevention, especially in women and children. Most of these micronutrients cannot be synthesized by the body but are provided by the daily diet. Micronutrient deficiency, if not compensated in time, can become a disease, and in severe cases can lead to death.
Source: https://baolaocai.vn/quan-tam-phong-chong-thieu-vi-chat-dinh-duong-cho-tre-post402660.html
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