Assoc. PhD. Nguyen Thi Lien Huong, Deputy Minister of Health, attended and chaired the conference. Attendees included representatives from the Government Office; relevant ministries, sectors, and affiliated units; People's Committees, Departments, and agencies of 34 provinces and cities, along with representatives from several international organizations in Vietnam.

In her opening remarks, Assoc. PhD. Nguyen Thi Lien Huong emphasized that nutrition is the foundation of health, contributing to improving the physical stature, mental capability, and overall quality of the population. The implementation of Decision No. 02/QD-TTg dated January 5, 2022, by the Prime Minister approving the National Nutrition Strategy is a key task. After 5 years of synchronized implementation, nutrition work has made significant progress.

At the conference, Assoc. PhD. Tran Thanh Duong – Director of the National Institute of Nutrition, presented the Report on the results of implementing the National Nutrition Strategy up to 2025. According to the report, community awareness has been significantly raised, and the rate of stunting malnutrition continues to drop sharply, especially among children under 5. To date, 10 indicators have met and exceeded the strategic targets. Intervention models such as nutritional care in the first 1,000 days of life, micronutrient supplementation, and school meal programs are yielding highly positive results.

However, the report also highlighted major challenges as Vietnam is facing a double burden of malnutrition. The prevalence of overweight and obesity, along with nutrition-related non-communicable diseases (such as diabetes and hypertension), is rapidly increasing across various age groups, coupled with disparities in access to nutrition services among different regions.

To provide directions and seek specific solutions for the next phase, the conference listened to the representative of the Department of Preventive Medicine's leadership report on the draft Action Plan for implementing the Strategy for the 2026-2030 period, focusing on solutions to boost nutrition activities. Following this, the conference heard in-depth presentations aimed at sharing practical experiences from ministries, sectors, and localities. Prominent among these were presentations on school nutrition; integrating nutrition activities into natural disaster response; nutritional care in the first 1,000 days of life, stunting malnutrition prevention, and overweight and obesity control. Towards the end of the program, the conference dedicated time for attendees to engage in active discussions. In particular, representatives of international organizations actively participated by asking questions and providing feedback to address challenges and propose practical interventions and support for nutrition work in Vietnam in the coming time.

The preliminary review conference marks an important milestone to evaluate the halfway point of the Strategy's implementation. With an increasingly comprehensive legal framework, particularly the Law on Disease Prevention passed by the National Assembly in late 2025 featuring a dedicated chapter on nutrition, alongside Professional Recommendations and the Nutrition Pyramid from the National Institute of Nutrition, the healthcare sector expects to continue effectively implementing intervention programs, ensuring the fulfillment of strategic targets in the 2026-2030 period.

Some outstanding images from the Conference: