The outcomes of the “Project to support educational activities for mothers to improve the quality of complementary food in rural Vietnam” were presented during a poster session at the IUNS 21st International Congress of Nutrition (ICN) which was held in Argentina in October 2017. The project was implemented between April 2014 and March 2017 in collaboration between ILSI Japan CHP and National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Vietnam, with the financial support of AIN (Ajinomoto International Cooperation for Nutrition and Health). The summary of the presentation are as follows: As an undernutrition prevention service of the commune health centers, trained village health workers provided nutrition and food safety information for mothers who have children between 6 and 23 month olds by using several communication channels such as periodical loudspeaker announcements, cooking classes, flip chart communication during household visits. Then, ILSI Japan CHP and NIN evaluated whether mothers became capable to prepare nutritionally balanced and safe complementary food for their children as results of these information, communication and education (IEC) activities. Subsequently, we measured the following 6 outcome indicators at baseline and endline: i) Minimum Dietary Diversity, ii) Minimum Meal Frequency, iii) Minimum Acceptable Diet, iv) Handwashing with soap (children), v) Handwashing with soap (mothers), and vi) food hygiene behaviors of mothers. The study involved 329 mother and child pairs in the baseline survey and 376 pairs in the endline survey. As this is a repeated cross-sectional study where we randomly selected different mother and child pairs between baseline and endline, it allows us to evaluate if the nutrition services have reached entire communities over time. As results, the IEC activities were effective in altering the minimum dietary diversity, minimum acceptable diet, children and mothers’ handwashing with soap over time. In addition, a combination of more than two IEC channels tends to lead nutritionally balanced and safe complementary food preparations. These findings suggest that the IEC activities on complementary feeding and hand hygiene were successful in reaching the target populations in all communities studied.

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Based on the preliminary investigations, a proposal titled "Participatory approach for improving safe water supply, nutrition and health environment" was proposed and approved by JICA (Japanese International Cooperation Agency) as a 3-year grassroots technical assistance project. In November 2005, the project was started in three communities (Tam Hiep Commune in Hanoi, Dai Mo Commune in Hanoi, and Quang Trung Commune in Nam Dinh Province) in the Red River Delta Region northern Vietnam where 2,500 households are supplied from local water treatment facilities. The Water Management Union composed of a technical group and an IEC group worked to generate a synergistic effect to improve the water supply and health management system. Positive outcomes included decreases in the childhood diarrhoea prevalence and the underweight prevalence, as well as improvements in the community members' food hygiene behaviour and child feeding practices. The quality of water from water treatment facilities was improved, and the quantity of distributed water was substantially increased by renovation, training of workers and proper management of water treatment operations. The improvements have been sustained by enhancing the capability of local water management unions. Project SWAN1 was completed with great success in November 2008.

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・Related publications and presentations (1), (2), (3), (4)