Sharing at the Workshop on providing comments on the draft Decree amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 09/2016/ND-CP on fortifying micronutrients in food organized by the Ministry of Health on October 11, Associate Professor, Dr. Truong Tuyet Mai, Deputy Director of the Institute of National Institute of Nutrition said:
"After 7 years of implementing Decree 09, the rate of households using iodized salt in the community that meets standards has decreased. In particular, the rate of children nationwide using iodine at the risk level is below WHO's recommendation, especially very low in mountainous children (not meeting the recommendation).
The iodine use rate does not meet WHO's recommendations, including among pregnant women, women of childbearing age (only reaching nearly half) and households reaching only 27%, while WHO's recommendation is 90%," said Associate Professor Mai.
In addition, iron, zinc, and serum vitamin A deficiencies also occur in the community, especially in women and children, who are the most sensitive and in need of supplementation.
Therefore, the National Institute of Nutrition strongly recommends that iodine deficiency affects public health, and that it is necessary to continue to implement measures to fortify salt for direct consumption and in food processing; to fortify iron and zinc in wheat flour, and vitamin A in cooking oil to ensure prevention of micronutrient deficiencies in the community. This is an effective and sustainable measure.
According to Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen, micronutrient deficiency is also known as “hidden hunger” because it develops slowly and silently. The Ministry of Health advised the Government to issue Decree 09/2016/ND-CP in 2016. After 7 years of implementing Decree 09, based on the report of the nutrition survey results in 2019-2020, the situation of micronutrient deficiency in the community is still high.
Increase iodine, iron, zinc, vitamin A in food
Deputy Minister of Health said that, at the request of some businesses, in 2018 the Government issued Resolution 19 to encourage food processing businesses to add micronutrients to their products, but it is not mandatory.
However, in the actual survey process, it was found that iodine, zinc, iron, and vitamin A are still deficient in the community. The World Health Organization (WHO) assessed Vietnam as one of the 26 countries with iodine deficiency, so it is necessary to have community intervention measures to ensure that Vietnamese people do not have micronutrient deficiencies.
According to Deputy Minister of Health, micronutrient deficiencies can be overcome according to WHO recommendations, which is to increase iodine, iron, zinc, and vitamin A in food.
In Decision 53/2024/QD-CP dated January 15, 2024, the Government assigned the Ministry of Health to study and propose amendments to Decree 09. To date, the dossier to complete the draft Decree amending and supplementing Decree 09 has been basically completed, and the opinions of agencies and units have been collected.
Domestic and foreign experts have expressed their opinions and proposed to keep Clause 1, Article 6, Decree 09 of the Government on adding micronutrients to food.
