Joining hands to eradicate micronutrient deficiency among women and children

Micronutrient deficiency, also referred to as the “hidden famine”, has become increasingly prominent in the world and has strong adverse effects o­n public health, especially in developing countries. The consequences of this famine affect people’s physical and intellectual health, as well as their labour capacity. High-risk groups include pregnant women, women of child-bearing age and children.

In Vietnam, according to the data provided by a survey of the National Institute of Nutrition in the beginning of 2013, up to 50% of children lack the required micronutrients, 14.2% of which lack vitamin A. The survey results also show that meals of many Vietnamese families do not meet minimum nutrition standards and food processing is not diversified. Many people skip full meals or just have snacks, which makes the vitamin A insufficiency increasingly exacerbating.

Micronutrient Festival for women

Starting November 9^th, 2013, with the message “Supplementing micronutrients for the betterment of meals and Vietnamese family health”, the VWU, Vietnam Unilever Foundation and Knorr Brand co- organized the “Micronutrient Festival” in 16 northern provinces/cities (Hà Nội, Thái Bình, Bắc Giang, Bắc Ninh, Lào Cai, Yên Bái, Phú Thọ, Lai Châu, Điện Biên, Sơn La, Hòa Bình, Hà Nam, Thái Nguyên, Nam Định, Hải Phòng, and Hải Dương). The festival served as a forum to raise WU members and women’s awareness of sufficient nutrition and using rich nutrient food in family meals. The forum was directed especially towards women of child-bearing age, pregnant women, nursing mothers and children under 5 years old, with the goal of better addressing the shortage of micronutrients for mothers and children in Vietnam. This festival also contributes to the implementation of the Project “For o­ne million mothers building prosperous and happy families” co-implemented by the VWU, Vietnam Unilever Foundation and Knorr Brand.

The Micronutrient Festival had a variety of activities including: workshops, document distribution, and communication via local radio. A total of 28 workshops were held during the Micronutrient Festival in 16 provinces/cities, which involved the sharing of nutritional information from the Institute of Nutrition, attracting a total of nearly 10,600 WU members and women. More than 24,000 sets of guidelines o­n nutrition and micronutrient supplementation of Vitamin A were provided for women. Women were also given interesting gifts, received counseling o­n nutrition and participated in knowledge quizzes, health check-up and games during the festival.

Moreover, the program also presented 35,000 sets of guidelines o­n nutrition and micronutrient supplementation of vitamin A to WU members and women through monthly meetings of the WU’s chapters and groups.