Conducted every 10 years, the survey was a joint effort between the NINand the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s General Statistics Office, with supportfrom many international organisations.
Deputy Health Minister Do Xuan Tuyen said the survey is the largest ofits kind on a nationwide scale and involved 22,400 households in 25 cities andprovinces representing six ecological areas. It collected anthropometrical data as well as those on micro-nutrients,individual food portions, food security, and food hygiene and safety.
He added that the survey reveals the overall landscape of nutritionalintake in Vietnam, progress made over the past decade, and the challenges inthe time to come.
Malnutrition is still too common around the country, particularly indisadvantaged and ethnic minority areas. Excessive weight and obesity are risingin both urban and rural areas and among people of different ages, leading to anuncontrollable rise in non-communicable diseases relating to diet. Besides, there remain problems in quality and safety of food consumed by people in daily life.
Tuyen said the survey is significant in assessing goals in the nationalnutrition strategy for the 2011-2020 period and in providing scientificevidence to serve the drafting of national nutrition strategies in subsequent periods.
The prevalence of excessive weight and obesity rose from 8.5 percent in2010 to 19 percent in 2020, including 26.8 percent in urban areas, 18.3 percentin rural areas, and 6.9 percent in mountainous areas.
The use of micro-nutrients and the rate of breastfeeding in the firstsix months of a new-born’s life improved significantly, from 19.6 percent in 2010to 45.4 percent in 2020. The figure was 55.7 percent in urban areas, 40.3percent in rural areas, and 42.7 percent in mountainous areas.
Up to 35.8 percent of respondents possessed good knowledge on food safety,while 55.6 percent had average knowledge and 8 percent low knowledge. The rateof people accessing official information on food safety has doubled since theprevious survey in 2010.