Viet Nam

Vietnam’s National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) is the convening body responsible for research, training and implementation. The Nutrition Working Group, an official technical working group within the Health Partnership Group is the multi-stakeholder platform co-chaired by NIN and UNICEF, and was convened regularly every six weeks over the past year. The health sector has decentralised coordination structures in 63 provinces. Recent efforts include the reaching out to Education, Agriculture, and Social Affairs ministries to involve them for the nutrition agenda.

Last updated: December 2016

In Vietnam, the convening body for nutrition is the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) in the Ministry of Health (MoH). The NIN is the leading institution responsible for research, training and implementation of activities in the field of nutrition, food sciences and clinical nutrition. It has the Secretariat specifically for the effective implementation of the National Nutrition Strategy (NNS).

The Nutrition Cluster Group is the multi-stakeholder platform which engages with key representatives from across sectors and external to the government. In principle, every six weeks, participants from various ministries including Health, Agriculture and Disaster Risk Management, institutes, universities, United Nations (UN) agencies, civil society, donors and global initiatives convene to work towards an agreed set of objectives and priorities. These meetings are co-chaired by the Director of the National Institute of Nutrition and the UNICEF Head of Nutrition.

Last updated: October 2015

The National Nutrition Strategy 2011-2020 is in place and the National Nutrition Action Plan 2016-2020 (NPAN) is under development. The legal enforcement of the Code on Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, maternity leave for up to 6 months, and food fortification are all in place. Stunting has been included as an indicator in the National Health Action Plan 2016-2020, and its inclusion in the Socio-Economic Development Plan is under consideration. A Children’s Law supporting nutritional care for pregnant women, infants and young children is also being ratified.

Last updated: December 2016

The NNS (2011-2020) was ratified by the Prime Minister with a vision toward 2030.

Throughout the past decade, Vietnam has made significant legislation change to protect the breastfeeding rights of women. These changes were part of an effort to fulfil obligations under the Convention of the Right of the Child, the International Code on the Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and subsequent World Health Assembly resolutions. Government Decree 100/2014/NDCP was an important law on advertising which banned the marketing of breast milk substitutes (for children under 2) and baby foods (for infants under six months). To support its enforcement, the Government also developed the Operational Guideline for Social Marketing.

For the Labour Code, an amendment was approved which saw the extension of maternity leave from four to six months and a guiding decree is being developed to promote the rights of female workers.

The MoH and other relevant Ministries are currently developing a new government Decree on Food Fortification including mandatory salt iodisation and wheat flour fortification.

Last updated: October 2015

The NPAN, which will serve as the national guideline for mainstreaming nutrition into sectoral policies, is currently being developed with actions and revised indicators The NPAN is being costed for the nutrition-specific and -sensitive interventions and a mid-term review has been planned for sharing the lessons learnt. The Nutrition Surveillance system collects, analyses and communicates the agreed indicators, with regular progress reports disseminated to nutrition stakeholders.

Last updated: December 2016

The NNS acts as the Common Results Framework (CRF) by which all supporting stakeholders are aligning their nutrition efforts behind. Roles and responsibilities of each line ministry are well defined in the NNS and it is operationalised with a five year Nutrition National Plan of Action developed by the MoH.

The National Action Plan on Nutrition and Infant and Young Child Feeding is nutrition sensitive and implementation of the NNS has been integrated into the plan. These MoH action plans on nutrition and young child feeding are decentralised to the provincial level. Vietnam is exploring the possibility of including regional nutrition strategies, which align with the NNS, into these regional plans. The Provincial Plan of Action 2013-2016 on Integrated Maternal, Newborn and Child Health and Nutrition is being implemented by the MoH at commune and district levels.

A periodical exercise to monitor the implementation of nutrition policies on an annual basis is conducted by the Government. The National Nutrition Programme of the NIN created a formal National Nutrition Surveillance System to track the implementation process of the NNS, however, there are no clear tools to track cross-sector collaboration. A midterm review of the NNS is in process and the result will feed into the adjustment of the plan annually based on performance and priorities.

Last updated: October 2015

Resources for implementation are mobilized and allocated in alignment with the national strategy and plan. In 2015-2016, at provincial levels, annual planning and action have taken place but the major budget for nutrition specific interventions is coming from the central government budget. The national nutrition budget is reviewed and adjusted based on analysis of annual reports, data from Nutrition Surveillance system, and joint reviews and visits made by government authorities.

Last updated: December 2016

Although, the NNS has not been costed, the NNS acts as a legal foundation for the government to approve and allocate yearly budget for nutrition, especially for the health sector (nutrition-specific programs). Resources for implementation are mobilised and allocated as part of their alignment with the NNS. Nutrition-specific spending in the public budget is tracked and reported annually, however, nutrition-sensitive programmes have proven to be difficult to track and monitor.

Some funds are provided by other external stakeholders including UN agencies and donors at national and/or subnational levels. Tracking and reporting of external funds has proven difficult to track and monitor.

Last updated: October 2015