Vietnam
Over 85 guests from non-government organizations (NGO), international agencies and government, academia and health care gathered in Hanoi on Thursday, January 17 for the Viet Nam launch of The Lancet’s Series on Maternal and Child Undernutrition. The all-day event, hosted by the country’s National Institute of Nutrition, began with a morning launch event which included a brief overview and presentation of The Lancet papers and remarks by Dr. Tran Chi Liem, Viet Nam Vice Minister of Health; Dr. Nguyen Cong Khan, Director of Viet Nam’s National Institute of Nutrition; series author Dr. Jennifer Bryce; Dr. Roger Shrimpton, Secretary of the United Nations Standing Committee on Nutrition and John Hendra, United Nations Resident Coordinator.
The launch event was followed by a press conference with over 40 local, national and regional journalists with print reporters from 10 of the country’s daily newspapers including Hanoian, Viet Nam News, Saigon Times, New Hanoi, and Saigon Liberty as well as the chief medical reporter and a photographer from the Associated Press’s Asia bureau. Print, television, radio and online reporters joined journalists from three national television outlets including VTV, Hanoi TV and VTC as well as Voice of Viet Nam, the national radio station. Dr. Khan, Dr. Jennifer Bryce, Dr. Roger Shrimpton and John Hendra gave brief presentations and fielded questions from the media.
A three-hour technical briefing and in-depth discussion of each of the five papers took place in the afternoon with comments and presentations from Dr. Kahn, Dr. Bryce, Dr. Shrimpton as well as Dr. Le Thi Hop from Viet Nam’s National Institute of Nutrition and Dr. Severin von Xylander from the World Health Organization. The discussion focused on a wide range of nutrition issues and challenges including breast feeding and particularly how to bring proven interventions to scale while maintaining quality. The group also discussed the need to speak with a clear and unified voice on nutrition so technical learnings can translate to meaningful policy.
For additional information, please email info@globalnutrition.org.