Tuan Nguyen

• MD, MSc, PhD,
• Regional M&E Specialist at FHI 360, Vietnam, Ha Noi

Abstract:Background and Objectives: This review manuscript examines the burden and national response to non-communicable diseases (NCDs), food and nutrition in Vietnam from 1975 to 2015. Methods and Study Design: We extracted data from peer-reviewed manuscripts and reports of nationally representative surveys and related policies in Vietnam. Result...

• When a mother’s own milk is unavailable for preterm or low birthweight infants, pasteurised donor milk protects against necrotising enterocolitis compared with formula milk • Pasteurised donor milk can also be used to supplement the mother’s own milk in order to meet an infant’s nutritional needs and can be administered in the sameways as the mot...

Objective To examine the association between the place of residence and receiving free samples and advice to feed the baby with infant formula. Design A cross-sectional study. Setting This study covered 12 counties/districts in China. Participants 5,112 mothers with infants aged 0-5.9 months. Results About 16% of the mothers received free sampl...

Background Poor access to healthcare facilities and consequently nutrition counseling services hinders the uptake of recommended infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices. To address these barriers and improve IYCF practices, Alive & Thrive (A&T) initiated community support groups in remote villages across nine provinces in Vietnam. Objectiv...

Background: The promotion of breastmilk substitutes (BMS) is an important barrier to successful breastfeeding. Objective: To examine the enactment and implementation of the Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes (the Code) in Vietnam with a focus on marketing practices by the baby food industry and perceptions of caregivers, health workers...

Background Inattention to young child growth and development in a transitioning global environment can undermine the foundation of human capital and future progress. Diets that provide adequate energy and nutrients are critical for children’s physical and cognitive development from 6 to 23.9 months of age and beyond. Still, over 70% of young childr...

Timely support given to breastfeeding mothers can result in life‐saving benefits for both mothers and infants. Progress in achieving results from existing efforts to improve breastfeeding practices can be accelerated with adequate investments in effective interventions. We aimed to document expenditures incurred by three diverse programs in Banglad...

Child nutrition has serious long‐term development implications. Evidence‐based frameworks and models are urgently needed to reduce deficits in infants and young children's diets on a large scale. Our paper reviews 32 publications and five impact evaluations of programmes in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nepal, Nigeria and Vietnam to identify what worked an...

Introduction Self-help groups (SHGs) and Support Groups (SGs) are increasingly recognized as effective mechanisms for improving maternal and young child nutrition due to their decentralized, community-based structures. While numerous studies have evaluated the outcomes and impact of SHGs and SGs on nutrition practices, there remains a gap in the li...

Background Inattention to young child growth and development in a transitioning global environment can undermine the foundation of human capital and future progress. Diets that provide adequate energy and nutrients are critical for children's physical and cognitive development from 6 to 23.9 months of age and beyond. Still, over 70% of young childr...

Breastfeeding is important for health, but until now its broader environmental and economic significance has been in the shadows. Two new resources – the Mothers’ Milk Tool and the Green Feeding Tool – switch on the light by calculating the environmental costs and economic losses of not breastfeeding. Launched by the Australian National University...

Vietnam is aging rapidly, leading to a substantial rise in morbidity and mortality associated with non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Despite the Government’s 2015 NCD care and management guidelines, there was no practical implementation. From 2018 to 2020, the Abundant Health (AH) model was introduced to enhance the screening and management of hype...

Nutrition policies are critical frameworks for tackling the triple burden of malnutrition, including undernutrition (i.e., stunting and wasting), overweight, and hidden hunger (i.e., micronutrient deficiencies). We examined (1) the alignment of recent National Nutrition Strategies and Action Plans (NNS) in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam with recent gl...

The market for commercially produced complementary foods (CPCF) is rapidly expanding in Southeast Asia; however, the existence and content of mandatory national policies, standards and legislation (binding legal measures) for CPCF in the region is unclear. To assess the status of national binding legal measures for CPCF in Southeast Asia, a legal a...

Although commercially produced complementary foods (CPCFs) are increasingly sold throughout Southeast Asia, concerns have been raised about CPCFs nutritional quality, labelling practices and the strength and scope of national CPCF regulations. The Consortium for Improving Complementary Foods in Southeast Asia (COMMIT), composed of UN agencies and c...

The Western Pacific region is a diverse region experiencing fast economic growth and nutrition transition. We systematically examined 94 cohort studies on the associations of dietary and other lifestyle factors on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the region. These studies were mainly from China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Singapore. Patte...

There is a growing recognition globally that care regarding lactation following a perinatal death needs to potentially offer the opportunity for maternal donation. This article discusses this experience and perspectives from a human milk bank (HMB) in Vietnam. This is a descriptive exploratory case study that has a long tradition in both the social...

Background The Philippines has enacted maternity protection policies, such as the 105-Day Expanded Maternity Leave Law and the Expanded Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2009, to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding. This study aimed to review the content and implementation of maternity protection policies in the Philippines and assess their ro...

Objectives This study examines the status of implementation of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes of eight countries in the South Asia region (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka), and describes the sales value and volume of commercial milk formula (CMF) marketed as breastmilk...

Background Donor human milk (DHM) is essential to the operation of human milk banks (HMB). This study examined characteristics and factors associated with higher volumes of DHM donation at the first HMB in Vietnam. Method Data from an online HMB monitoring system collected between February 2017 and July 2022 included demographic characteristics, c...

Women’s contributions to food production and food security are often overlooked, thus perpetuating inequitable and unsustainable globalized commercial food systems. Women’s role as producers in the first-food system, breastfeeding, is largely invisible and underfunded, encouraging the production and consumption of environmentally unsustainable comm...

The Mothers' Milk Tool was developed to make more visible the economic value contributed to society by women's unpaid care work through breastfeeding infants and young children. This manuscript describes the development and display key features of the tool, and reports results for selected countries. For the development, we used five steps: (1) def...

In 2013, Vietnam expanded its paid maternity leave from four to six months. This study evaluated whether the expansion of Vietnam's paid maternity leave policy was associated with improved long-term labour market outcomes for Vietnamese women. We used a regression discontinuity design to evaluate the impact of this policy on the probability of wome...

The Philippine Milk Code was enacted in 1986 to protect breastfeeding and reduce inappropriate marketing of breastmilk substitutes (BMS). The Philippine Milk Code is categorized as “substantially aligned” with the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (“the Code”), but its provisions are assessed as relatively weak in prohibiti...

Background: Microbiological quality is one of the key safety standards in human milk bank (HMB) operations. We describe the profiles of bacteria in donor human milk (DHM) before and after the pasteurization of samples collected from breastfeeding women in the hospital and from the community in the first HMB in Vietnam. Methods: Data were collect...

Breastfeeding is essential for child survival but globally less than fifty percent of infants receive adequate breastfeeding. Gaps in breastfeeding knowledge and misinformation are widespread. Mass media aims to motivate mothers and families, encourage care-seeking, improve social norms, and counteract misleading advertising. However, the costs and...

The prevalence of early and exclusive breastfeeding in Vietnam remains sub-optimal. The objective of this study was to determine factors associated with early initiation of breastfeeding (EIBF) and exclusive breastfeeding for the first 3 days after birth (EBF3D). We conducted a population-based, cross-sectional survey of 726 mothers with children a...

The Philippines has adopted policies to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding on par with global standards, yet the impact of these policies is not well understood. This study assesses the adequacy and potential impact of breastfeeding policies, as well as the perceptions of stakeholders of their effectiveness and how to address implementatio...

Manufacturers and distributors of commercial milk formula (CMF), or breast milk substitutes (BMS), a US$ 55 billion industry,1 have a duty to their shareholders to maximise sales. Marketing increases CMF sales - but reduces breastfeeding. The health system and those who work within it have a primary obligation to preserve and improve health outcome...

Maternal, infant, and young child nutrition (MIYCN) is important for health, survival, productivity, and development. Knowledgeable, skilled health workers are vital to provide quality care, improve health outcomes, and meet global nutrition targets. When nutrition is not adequately addressed in pre-service curricula, health workers may not be equi...

Objectives To determine the content, implementation, and effectiveness of policies aimed at improving breastfeeding practices in the Philippines. Methods This study used mixed methods, including a desk review of relevant policies and documents and in-depth interviews with 100 caregivers, workers, employers, health workers, and policymakers. Resul...

Objectives To examine the uptake of Vietnam's paid maternity leave policy in terms of entitlements and awareness, perceptions, and gaps in implementation through the lens of formally employed female workers. Methods In this mixed methods study, we interviewed 494 formally employed female workers, among whom 107 were pregnant and 387 were mothers o...

Objectives To determine factors associated with breastfeeding practices around childbirth, namely early initiation of breastfeeding (EIBF) and exclusive breastfeeding for the first three days after birth (EBF3D). Methods A population-based, cross-sectional survey of 726 mothers with children aged 0–11 months in two provinces and one municipality w...

Maternity protection is a normative fundamental human right that enables women to combine their productive and reproductive roles, including breastfeeding. The aim of this study is to examine the uptake of Vietnam’s maternity protection policy in terms of entitlements and awareness, perceptions, and gaps in implementation through the lens of formal...

Nghiên cứu được tiến hành nhằm mô tả kết quả triển khai và nhân rộng, và bài học kinh nghiệm trong hoạt động sàng lọc, chẩn đoán và điều trị bệnh tăng huyết áp (THA) và đái tháo đường (ĐTĐ) tại trạm y tế xã, phường (TYT) của Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh. Nghiên cứu phối hợp rà soát số liệu sẵn có của dự án và tiến hành 36 phỏng vấn sâu với đại diện Bộ Y t...

Multiple recent global nutrition initiatives have recommended actions to transform food systems to improve food environments and food choice. This study aimed to identify actions recommended by these initiatives and understand their similarities and differences. Twelve global nutrition initiatives were reviewed, collectively spanning 13 action them...

Commercial milk formula for pregnant women (CMF-PW) is an expensive, ultra-processed food with a high concentration of sugar, the consumption of which may be linked to negative health outcomes. However, CMF-PWs are promoted as beneficial for pregnant women and lactating mothers as well as their children. To date, little is known about the factors a...

Background: Pasteurized donor milk (PDM) is typically prescribed to preterm or low birthweight newborns when their mother’s own milk is unavailable. In surplus, PDM is prescribed to meet the nutritional needs of healthy newborns in the first few days of life. However, its overuse can undermine efforts to promote and support breastfeeding, waste res...

Background: Since 1979, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) have recommended the use of pasteurized human milk from a human milk bank (HMB) to feed low birthweight (LBW) and preterm newborns as the 'first alternative' when mothers are unable to provide their own milk. However, they have not issued an...

Breastfeeding is critical to maternal and child health and survival, and the benefits persist until later in life. Inappropriate marketing of breastmilk substitutes (BMS), feeding bottles, and teats threatens the enabling environment of breastfeeding, and exacerbates child mortality, morbidity, and malnutrition, especially in the context of COVID-1...

BACKGROUND Since 1979, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF have recommended the use of pasteurized human milk from a human milk bank (HMB) to feed low birthweight and preterm infants as the first alternative when mothers are unable to provide their own milk. Globally, there are about 700 HMBs, and the number is increasing. Concerns relat...

Background: Despite its well-known benefits, breastfeeding practices remain suboptimal worldwide, including in Southeast Asia. Many countries in the region have thus enacted policies, such as maternity protection and the World Health Assembly International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (the Code), that protect, promote, and support...

Child undernutrition is a public health and development problem in Myanmar that is jeopardizing children's physical and cognitive development and the country's social and economic progress. We identified key drivers of child stunting (low height‐for‐age) and wasting (low weight‐for‐height) in a nationally representative sample (n = 3,981) of childr...

BACKGROUND Previous studies focused on the promotion of infant formula in big cities and among families of high socioeconomic status in China. OBJECTIVE To examine the association between the place of residence and receiving free samples and advice to feed the baby with infant formula. METHODS We analyzed cross-sectional data from face-to-face in...

We examined the association between breastfeeding practices and associated factors using cross‐sectional data from face‐to‐face interviews with 9,745 mother–child dyads in China. The study collected information on breastfeeding practices and potential associated factors at the individual, family, health facility and environmental levels in China. W...

We examined the consistency of national nutrition strategies and action plans (NNS) focusing on maternal, infant, and young child nutrition in Southeast Asia with regional and international recommendations. Between July and December 2017, we identified and extracted information on context, objectives, interventions, indicators, strategies, and coor...

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends early essential newborn care (EENC) - The First Embrace - as a simple lifesaving procedure for newborns. The successful implementation of EENC at scale requires an understanding of health staff experiences, including facilitators, barriers, and local adaptations of EENC. This study aims to...

UNSTRUCTURED Design: Mixed methods (desk review, trend data analysis, quantitative and qualitative data collection). Population: In each of the 4 countries: we will conduct up to 24 in-depth interviews (IDI) with policy makers or authorities at national and provincial levels and stakeholders from the United Nations (UN), non-governmental organizati...

Opinion leader research (OLR) has been widely used in public health to identify influential persons or organizations to affect health care practice, inform policy-making processes, and help shape communication strategies. We used OLR to gather information related to barriers and possible solutions to guide strategic engagement for strengthening pol...

Background: Progress in gender equity can improve health at the individual and country levels. Objectives: This study’s objective was to analyze recent trends in gender equity and identify historical and contextual factors that contributed to changes in gender equity in three countries: China, Nepal, and Nicaragua. Methods: To assess gender equity...

https://www.ifpri.org/publication/determining-key-research-areas-healthier-diets-and-sustainable-food-systems-viet-nam

Purpose of the assessment: to review implementation of the Community and Home Based Care (CHBC) service delivery model used in the program and provide evidence to inform improvement, potential scale-up, and eventual transitioning of the program. Methods: The assessment was a cross-sectional descriptive study using quantitative and qualitative appr...

Purpose of the assessment: to review implementation of the Community and Home Based Care (CHBC) service delivery model used in the program and provide evidence to inform improvement, potential scale-up, and eventual transitioning of the program. Methods: The assessment was a cross-sectional descriptive study using quantitative and qualitative appro...

https://doi.org/10.1159/000480486

Objective: To review regulations and to perform a media audit of promotion of products under the scope of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes ('the Code') in South-East Asia. Design: We reviewed national regulations relating to the Code and 800 clips of editorial content, 387 advertisements and 217 Facebook posts from...

Objective: To examine the association between exposure to breastfeeding TV spots and exclusive breastfeeding (EBF). Methods: Face-to-face interviews with 11,722 mothers of infants under 6 months old through five cross-sectional surveys: ≥6 months apart, sample sizes of 2,065-2,593, and ~50% from areas with or without facilities offering counseling...

Objectives: To examine the association between exposure to breastfeeding television spots and exclusive breastfeeding (EBF). Methods: We performed face-to-face interviews with 11 722 mothers of infants younger than 6 months using 5 cross-sectional surveys 6 or more months apart between 2011 and 2014 in Vietnam. Sample sizes were 2065 to 2593, an...

Supporting info item

Background: The association between infant formula feeding at birth and subsequent feeding patterns in a low- or middle-income context is not clear. Objective: We examined the association of infant formula feeding during the first 3 d after birth with subsequent infant formula feeding and early breastfeeding cessation in Vietnam. Methods: In a cros...

Background Limited studies have examined ethnic variation in breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices in developing countries. This study investigated ethnic variation in feeding practices in mothers with children 0–23 months old in Vietnam. Methods We used data on 1875 women who came from the ethnic majority, Kinh (n = 989, randomly sampl...

The pathways through which behavior change interventions impact breastfeeding practices have not been well studied. This study aimed to examine: (1) the effects of exposure to mass media and interpersonal counseling on exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) and hypothesized psychosocial determinants (i.e. knowledge, intention, beliefs, social norms, and sel...

Adequate utilization of services is critical to maximize the impact of counselling on infant and young child feeding (IYCF), but little is known about factors affecting utilization. Our study examined supply‐ and demand‐side determinants of the utilization of IYCF counselling services in Viet Nam. We used survey data from mothers with children <2y...

Background In remote areas in Vietnam, prevailing customs, poor economic conditions, and difficulties in accessing healthcare facilities lead to suboptimal infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices, and thus poor child growth and development. To address these barriers, from November 2011, Alive & Thrive (A&T) Vietnam initiated 801 IYCF suppor...

Adequate utilization of services is critical to maximize the impact of counselling on infant and young child feeding (IYCF), but little is known about factors affecting utilization. Our study examined supply- and demand-side factors associated with the utilization of IYCF counselling services in Viet Nam. We used survey data from mothers with child...

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The World Health Organization’s (WHO) standardized questionnaire for assessing infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices does not include commercial baby cereals (CBC), which are derived from several food groups and are fortified with micronutrients. We examined how different scenarios for classifying CBC affect estimates of the quality of co...

Exclusive breastfeeding in the first six mo of life is critical to child development and health. Effective from May 1, 2013, Vietnam became one of the first lower- to middle-income countries to offer 6-month paid maternity leave (6mo-PML). We analyzed data from different sources to 1) describe the process of adopting the 6mo-PML policy, 2) examine...

The World Health Organization's (WHO) indicators for assessing infant and young child feeding practices do not include commercial baby cereals (CBC), which are derived from several food groups and fortified with micronutrients. We examined how different scenarios for classifying CBC affect estimates of the quality of complementary feeding in 6‐23‐m...

The pathways through which behavior change interventions impact breastfeeding (BF) practices have not been well studied. This study aimed to 1) examine separate and interactive effects of mass media (MM) and interpersonal counseling (IPC) on BF‐related psychosocial factors; and 2) assess the pathways through which intervention exposure affects excl...

Few studies have examined the association between feeding infant formula at birth and future feeding patterns. This study was conducted to examine the association between feeding infant formula in the first 3 days after birth (IF3d) and current feeding infant formula (IFcur), as well as discontinuation of breastfeeding (noBF). In a cross‐sectional...

Little information is available about how to build a monitoring system to measure the output of preventive nutrition interventions, such as counselling on infant and young child feeding. This paper describes the Alive & Thrive Vietnam (A&T) project experience in nesting a large-scale project monitoring system into the existing public health informa...

Background: Although gaps between breastfeeding awareness and practices have been described, determinants of the gaps have not been well investigated. Objective: The aim of this study was to examine determinants of the gap between breastfeeding awareness and practices in Vietnam. Methods: We interviewed 10,834 mothers with children aged 0-23 m...

Background Despite evidence supporting the importance of breastfeeding to child health, breastfeeding practices remain suboptimal in Vietnam. There is currently little evidence on the importance of breastfeeding in the prevention of morbidity during infancy in Vietnam. In order to provide country specific data for policy makers to support breastfee...

Objectives To evaluate performance of anthropometric measures relative to percentage body fat (%BF) measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in children. Design and Methods We used data from 8-19-y-old US children enrolled in a nationally representative cross-sectional survey in 2001-2004 (n=5,355) with measured %BF, body mass index (BMI...

In Viet Nam, 53 ethnic minority groups account for about 15% of the population; and stunting rates are observed to be higher amongst these ethnic groups compared to the majority Kinh population. This study is among the first to explore the ethnic variation in breastfeeding (BF) and complementary feeding (CF) practices in mothers with children < 24...

We conducted this analysis to examine determinants of the knowledge‐practice gap in early and exclusive breastfeeding (BF). In a cross‐sectional survey, we interviewed 10,834 mothers with children aged 0−23 months old in 11 of 63 provinces of Viet Nam about BF practices, knowledge, barriers and support. The knowledge‐practice gap was defined when a...

Alive & Thrive (A&T), in partnership with the Government of Viet Nam, is among the first to manage a network of 780 franchises that provide good‐quality infant and young child nutrition counseling. This paper describes our experience in nesting the A&T project monitoring into the public health system and using monitoring data to strengthen franchis...

This study was conducted to examine the situation of school bullying and associated factors among Tran Phu High School students in Hoan Kiem district, Ha Noi from December 2012 to June 2013. The objectives are to describe the current situation of school physical bullying among Tran Phu high school students and to describe related factors. This is a...

Abstract: Interventions that can successfully alter the trajectory toward obesity among high-risk children are critical if we are to effectively address this public health crisis. The goal of this pilot study was to implement and evaluate an innovative physical activity program with Hispanic-American (HA) preschool children attending Head Start. Th...