On October 12, the Institute of Nutrition (Ministry of Health) in collaboration with the Japan Nutrition Association and TH Group organized an international conference on Vietnamese nutrition with the theme of School Nutrition. The conference was attended by more than 300 delegates, including nutrition experts and leading scientists from the country and abroad, representatives from management agencies and international organizations.

The workshop shared a comprehensive perspective on the current state of nutrition and school nutrition in Vietnam, and provided lessons learned from the world with proven effective models. The discussions and recommendations from the workshop are an important foundation for Vietnam to continue to develop school nutrition policies and programs, and implement policies and strategies to develop stature, physical strength, and intelligence for future generations.

Nutrition experts all affirm that health is a precious asset of human life, starting from the first 1,000 days of life and continuing from 2-12 years old. Science has proven that about 86% of a person's maximum height is achieved under the age of 12, this is the stage that determines the maximum development of human stature, physical strength and intelligence. Therefore, the issue of caring for children's nutrition at this stage, especially school nutrition, has become urgent and needs to be fully recognized in order to have effective implementation solutions.

Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Thanh Duong, Director of the Institute of Nutrition, spoke at the conference.

Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Thanh Duong, Director of the Institute of Nutrition, said that Vietnamese children are facing three nutritional burdens: malnutrition (mainly stunting), overweight and obesity, and micronutrient deficiencies. While 18.2% of children under 5 years old are still stunted, the rate of overweight and obesity in children aged 5-19 has also reached 19%.

To address this situation, the Vietnamese Government has issued the National Nutrition Strategy for the 2021-2030 period, with specific goals to improve the nutritional status of the entire population, including school-age children and adolescents. The strategy requires relevant agencies to strengthen nutrition education in schools, with the goal that 60% of schools in urban areas and 40% in rural areas will organize school meals and develop menus that meet recommended needs by 2025, and strive to reach 90% and 80% respectively by 2030.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Tran Thanh Duong, to achieve the set goals, in addition to the efforts and initiative of schools and educational organizations, there needs to be participation from families, businesses and the entire community. Parents need to be equipped with nutritional knowledge to help their children maintain healthy eating habits both at school and at home. Food businesses also play a particularly important role in providing healthy nutritional products and participating in nutrition support programs for children.

The pilot model of school meals ensures proper nutrition combined with increased physical activity for Vietnamese children, pupils and students (implemented by the Ministry of Education and Training with the support of TH Group in 10 provinces and cities across the country, representing 5 ecological regions of Vietnam) has brought positive results. School meals in the pilot model are approached in the direction of using completely natural foods, based on the agricultural advantages of the region, fresh milk is scientifically included in the meal composition. The main intervention of the Pilot Model is 400 diverse, balanced, micronutrient-rich school meal menus combined with nutrition education and physical education to help students improve their health and develop their physical strength.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thanh De, Director of the Department of Physical Education (Ministry of Education and Training) proposed to replicate pilot models; develop policies and move towards legalizing school nutrition, which will be the legal basis for management agencies, schools, and businesses to participate in preparing and complying with conditions on facilities, human resources, processes, and expertise in serving school meals; ensuring human resources with expertise in nutrition in schools.

Sharing the same view, Prof. Dr. Le Thi Hop, President of the Vietnam Association of Women Intellectuals, a leading expert in nutrition, who has participated in implementing nutrition programs and projects since 1995, also believes that legalizing school nutrition in our country is an urgent issue, in order to have sustainable and synchronous solutions. School nutrition activities help standardize meals for students, standardize processing procedures, increase awareness of healthy nutrition to help children develop comprehensively, reduce the risk of chronic diseases related to nutrition later. The law is also the basis for incorporating nutritional knowledge into formal lessons for students; enhancing coordination between families and schools in caring for students' nutrition.

Prof. Nakamura Teiji, President of the Japan Nutrition Association, shared the successes of the school meal program in Japan.

At the workshop, Prof. Nakamura Teiji, President of the Japan Nutrition Association, shared the successes of the school meal program in Japan, a prominent successful model in the world. Accordingly, the School Nutrition Law in Japan was born early and has changed in each period, to suit the actual situation of nutrition, economy and society. The law both standardizes school meals and focuses on developing nutrition education. Thanks to that, malnutrition has decreased significantly, Japanese youth are increasingly developing physically and mentally, with average height and stature growing significantly compared to 50 years ago.

Japan has become a typical example of how a country can use nutrition, regulated by a standard “legal corridor”, as a powerful tool to improve the health, stature and quality of life of the young generation. In particular, school nutrition is not only a solution to improve student health, but also a solid foundation for building a healthy and sustainable society.

Sharing at the workshop, Labor Hero Thai Huong, Founder - Chairman of the TH Group's Strategy Council, affirmed that a country is only strong when people are fully developed in both physical and mental strength, in which the prerequisite for this development is essential nutrition such as cereals, vegetables, food and dairy products and a sustainable health care regime.

Labor Hero Thai Huong shares the contributions of businesses in building and implementing nutrition programs.

In Vietnam, TH is the initiator and accompanies the Government and agencies from the early days of building and implementing national nutrition programs. TH is a pioneer in the National School Milk Program, leading the way in building a model combined with research and testing the product "TH true MILK Sterilized Fresh Milk for School Milk". This is the first product to be confirmed by the Ministry of Health as effective in research to improve the nutritional and micronutrient status of children.

TH cooperated with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education and Training to organize an international conference and announce the "Nutrition Project" for Vietnamese people with 6 sub-projects targeting groups with specific nutritional needs, including 2 sub-projects implementing comprehensive nutrition activities for children in the golden age. Over the past 6 years, TH Group has accompanied the implementation of many studies/experiments to have a systematic scientific basis for policy approaches, pioneering the implementation of corporate responsibility in the food sector.