Some 300,000 children in kindergartens and primary schools in HCM City will benefit from a school milk programme launched on October 31. (Source: VNA)HCM City (VNA) - More than 300,000 kindergarten and first-gradestudents in 10 HCM City districts will benefit from a school milk programmelaunched on October 31.
The programme will first be piloted in Thu Duc, Tan Phu, Binh Tan, Cu Chi, HocMon, Nha Be, Can Gio, Binh Chanh districts, and Districts 9 and 12 before beingexpanded city-wide.
The Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk) will provide the milkfor the programme, which will be implemented at all public and privatekindergartens and primary schools and private creches.
Each child will receive five 180ml cartons of milk per week.
The cost will be borne by the city, enterprises and the parents of the childrenin a ratio of 30 percent, 20 percent and 50 percent.
But disadvantaged children will get the milk for free.
Nguyen Huu Hung, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Health, saidthe average height of Vietnamese is less than that of other nationalities inAsia and elsewhere.
Nutrition plays an important role in a population’s height, he said, adding theprogramme will have an effect on children's height and also improve theirphysique and health.
Bui Thi Diem Thu, deputy head of the Department of Education and Training, saidthe programme will help improve the nutritional status of children, reducingthe rate of malnutrition, and contribute to human resources development.
It aims to raise public awareness of the importance of nutrition to children'shealthy growth and development, school meals and the use of milk and dairyproducts.
About 80 percent of schools in the designated districts with 53 percent oftheir student population have registered to participate in the programme.
The department and Vinamilk have organised training for doctors, healthworkers, teachers, and parents in those districts.
Some 60 countries in the world run school milk programmes, while 17 cities andprovince in Vietnam do./.
VNA
