Combating Malnutrition And Loss Of Food Productivity

WHO describes malnutrition as imbalance, deficiency or excesses in a person’s diet in context of nutrients and energy. The statement covers two wider groups, one being under-nutrition, which is caused due to insufficiency and or inadequacy in the food source resulting in stunting, underweight, deficiency diseases, wasting, etc. While the other one being dietary diseases like obesity, diabetes and cancers in the alimentary canal. Malnutrition affects people all around the globe hence we need to tackle it like a species. Around 1.9 billion adults worldwide are overweight. Even around 462 million are underweight. An estimated 41 million children under the age of 5 years are overweight or obese, while some 159 million are stunted and 50 million are wasted. Adding to this burden are the 528 million or 29% of women of reproductive age around the world affected by anemia.

Malnutrition is one of the major causes of health problems in Vietnam. The country is facing food scarcity due to lower quality crops and cheaper produce. Besides this, the lack of food security and standardized public distribution systems worsen the situation. Children under the age of five years are affected the worst. Severe deficiencies lead to stunting which increases the risk of mortality. Approximately 1.2 million children out of 7.6 million births are affected, that is 26% of the total children born per year. Several children show patterns of stunted growth, and about all of them are at risk of death. The post-natal factors are also responsible for stunted growth like improper infant and child feeding practices. Another major effect of malnutrition on the population is severe anemia amongst women in the reproductive age along with 1/3rd of children below the age of 65 months i.e. approx 5 years. It is caused by the deficiency of micronutrients like iron, vitamin A, etc. Micronutrient deficiency like that of iodine is a major causative of many health problems amongst the general population, but the most affected are the school going children due poor quality of food and lower standards of nutrition.

Vietnam has addressed these issues critically and the numbers had gone significantly down by the year 2014. Childhood malnutrition is especially important for Vietnam as the children between the ages of 5 and 65 months are also vulnerable to contracting infectious diseases, which if ignored can turn out to be fatal.

Loss of food productivity in Vietnam is highlighted when we consider crops like fruits and vegetables. The rate of post harvest loss is massive in the case of Vietnam. Such loss directly affects the economy as well as the grade of food that the citizens get to consume, a poorer economy resorts to consuming cheaper food that usually are not fortified and have very low nutritional value. Vietnam is has taken this matter into its site and is trying to find ways to improve fruit production both consumption and export. One example being FAO and Vietnamese government are cooperating to fight off pink mealybug which is a parasite on cassava plants.

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Along with the post harvest losses Vietnam faces crop or product loss due to the increasing rates of air, land, and water pollution caused by several factors. One of the major factors is the over-use of chemical fertilizers. The trends have worsened over the last 20 years and the use of chemical fertilizers and plant protectors have increased almost five-fold. It has resulted in degradation of soil and contamination of water both currently resulting in poor yield and lower quality product.

Along with other products, Vietnam is also a big producer of freshwater fish and shrimp which are grown and captured in the Mekong Delta, with a net value worth of millions in USD. But this industry also is suffering product loss due to various factors. A fast extension of the zone being used for aquaculture has been hard to direct. The industry requires major changes in the infrastructure as the previously built canals, etc. do not match the requirements for the practice of aquaculture. There has been a decrease in coastal aquatic resources in latest years, resulting in enhanced pressure on the livelihood of millions of individuals dependent on natural aquatic resources, e.g. small-scale fishing operations. Despite the fast growth of industrial-scale shrimp cultivation that has made a significant contribution to complete aquaculture manufacturing from the fisheries industry, the large-scale disease outbreak is a severe problem for the future development of shrimp farming in Vietnam's coastal regions.

Even though the country is having issues in maintain the rich fresh water reserves but Vietnam recognizes the threats like salt water intrusions etc. in the delta and is trying its best to deal with such perils caused due to industrialization.

Even though there are several programs running in the country to combat malnutrition and loss of produce but every plan needs certain amount of enrichment and outlook. Therefore, Vietnam would like to suggest the following recommendations.

• FAO should promote food diversification in different communities to cover a broader spectrum of nutrients
• FAO should help share the technological and biotechnological advancements in crop research across the globe
• FAO should expand its boundaries by maintain the collaboration between FAO and Epi-LABNET to fight against diseases caused post malnutrition across the globe
• FAO should join hands with GAIN and National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) to promote distribution of micronutrient powders to countries facing childhood malnutrition
• FAO should promote nutrition sensitive agriculture in order to prevent wastage

The above mentioned recommendations and the belief of Vietnam about the fact that the entire globe has to cooperate and work hand in hand to combat Malnutrition and Loss of food productivity. By developing efficient food resources and sustainable forms of agriculture we can defeat the curse of malnutrition that faces us. Hence Vietnam invites each of our fellow nations to contribute to make the world a better place for us and for the generations to come.