HÀ NỘI –
The shortage of micronutrients in Việt Nam has decreased, but the rate of
decrease is slow, experts from the Institute of Nutrition under the Ministry of
Health said.
The
shortage has affected the health of children, pregnant women and women of
childbearing ages.
A study
by the institute in 2014-15 revealed that the country had some 7.5 million
children under five, of which one third had anaemia and two third had a deficiency
of iron.
Trần
Khánh Vân, an expert from the institute, said their meals did not supply enough
micronutrients. Meat contained the required micronutrients, but poor people in
the remote mountainous and rural areas could not afford it.
Trần Thúy
Nga, another expert from the institute, said the deficiency of important
micronutrients, such as iodine, vitamin A, iron and zinc, could lead to serious
consequences. The shortage could cause blindness, brain seizures, nervous
system malformations and decrease people’s working capacity.
Associate
professor Lê Bạch Mai, deputy director of the institute, said, “Increasing
micronutrients is a long-term goal to raise working capacity, develop people’s
intelligence, height and health, and thereby improve the quality of life.”
The most
important task was to supplement micronutrients to people facing the highest
risks due to the shortage by improving the quality of their lives and
diversifying their food, she said.
The food
that contained these essential micronutrients are salt, wheat flour and
vegetable oil.
Children
under five need to drink a vitamin A tonic twice a year.
The
institute has supplied more than six million vitamin A tablets to children aged
between six months and three years across the country.
A
nationwide drive to supply vitamin A tonic has been organised today and
tomorrow.
VNS
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