MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING MINISTRY OF HEALTH NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NUTRITION NGUYEN DUC VINH EFFECTIVENESS OF MICRONUTRIENT FOOD FORTIFICATION ON NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN IN NGHIA DAN DISTRICT SPECIALIZATION : NUTRITION CODE : 9720401 Ph.D THESIS SUMMARY HA NOI - 2019 THE THESIS IS COMPLETED IN NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NUTRITION THE SCIENTIFIC SUPERVISORS: Prof Dr Le Thi Hop Assoc Prof Dr Bui Thi Nhung Reviewer 1: Reviewer 2: The thesis will be defended in Thesis Committee at Institute level in National Institute of Nutrition, Ha Noi At……, on /…./2019 This thesis can be found at: - National Library - National Institute of Nutrition Library ABBREVIATION LIST BAZ BMI for age Z-score BMI Body Mass Index FFQ Food Frequency Questionnaire HAZ Height for Age Z-score Hb Hemoglobin MOH Ministry of Health NIN National Institute of Nutrition SEANUTS The South East Asian Nutrition Surveys RDA Recommended Dietary Allowance WAZ Weight for Age Z-score WHO World Health Organization WHZ Weight for Height Z-score UNICEF The United Nations Children’s Fund INTRODUCTION Child malnutrition has been a public health problem in developing countries, especially Asia nations, including Vietnam Malnutrition problems at pre-school and school ages include stunting, underweight and micronutrient deficiencies, which are common in Vietnam Over the last two decades, nutrition policies and programs have contributed significantly in the improvement of nutritional status of under year-old children The underweight prevalence decreased from 19.9% to 14.1% between 2008 and 2015 The period from 2008 to 2015 saw a decline in the proportion of stunting children from 32.6% to 24.6% However, the stunting prevalence is still quite high compared to several countries in the region Stunting is closely related to micronutrient deficiencies Results of the South East Asian Nutrition Surveys (SEANUTS) investigation on Vietnamese children who had micronutrient deficiencies showed that: The proportion of anemia in children aged to 59 months was quite high at 23% and that in primary school age was 11.8% The prevalence of children with low iron stores (Ferritin