Every child has the right to a healthy start in life. In remote parts of Vietnam one volunteer, Bui Thi Thuy is working tirelessly to make sure new mothers and their babies can access vital nutrition and maternal health services. ChildFund Vietnam recently spoke with her to learn about her experiences. Here’s what she had to say:
I am a village health worker in the Hoa Binh province. I have worked to implement the ‘Equal access to quality health services for mothers and children in mountainous areas- Phase 2’ project here from 2019-2022. During this process, the project has created many positive changes in my community and has contributed to changing the way we think about maternal health and childcare.
Before the project was launched, I saw very few families with young children paying attention to their children’s health. When parents see their child not eating, they think that the child must be sick and will eat after a few days. When parents had the time they would cook white porridge, but when they are busy, they buy instant porridge which is less nutritious. When one–two month-old babies cry, parents still follow the old belief that if babies are hungry, they should chew rice to feed them, ground up rice to cook or buy porridge for their children to eat. They also do not know how to ensure all four groups of nutrients in children’s meals.
One father, Hau recently took part in the program. He always takes his wife to antenatal care and accompanies her to take the children to each child weighing. When the village health worker consulted about his child’s health condition, he listened very attentively.
Picking homegrown vegetables.
“Since taking part in the project, I have acquired knowledge on how to take care of children. While my knowledge might still be limited, I have learned about meals with four groups of nutrients – starch, protein, fat, and fiber to add to my children’s meals. In the past, we used to go to the market to buy meat and fish to feed our children, but now we grow vegetables, raise chickens for eggs, and add animal fat to our children’s meals all thanks to the knowledge shared by the village health workers through communication sessions,” said Hau.
“In December 2021, my child showed signs of stunting. Recalling the knowledge that was shared and consulting with the village health worker, I supplemented my child’s meals with more nutrients for bone growth and paid more attention to the daily meal portion. In March 2022, according to the village health measurement, my child has shown development. We have yet to overcome malnutrition, however, I will keep taking good care of my child in the future,” said Hau.
I have also heard many mothers say that group activities on maternal and children’s health care have many practical applications to their daily routine.
“Before the project, my family did not know how to use vegetables in the garden, eggs from domestic chickens to supplement the children’s meals. I also didn’t know about ’colourising the bowl’ to make children’s meals more beautiful and nutritious. Only when the project took place did we start to pay attention to this,” said Thong, one mother who took part in the program.
Another young mother said: “When I was pregnant, I was also given micronutrients to take until 3 months after giving birth. Every 3 months, there is a weighing session to know the health status of the baby. When my first child was born in 2012, I did not receive micronutrients. At that time, a rich family would buy iron to drink every month, but I could not do this. At that time, I was also given a ‘Maternal and Child Health Monitoring’ book, but when I returned home, I did not pay much attention to it. Now, equipped with new knowledge on how to use the book, I have been storing it carefully.”
As a village health worker, I have been a companion in organising and guiding childcare activities of health projects in the past few years. I can see parents’ perceptions have changed, and I’m proud to have played a small part to influence the change of caregivers!
This International Youth Day, we’re celebrating two determined leaders from Vietnam. Young people have the right to have their voices heard and considered in the issues that impact them.
Ngan, age 12, and Viet Anh, age 11, are two young leaders from the Bac Kan province, chosen by their peers to represent them at the Provincial Children’s Forum.
This Forum is a chance for children and young people to come together from different parts of their province and share their experiences and the challenges they face as young people. They have the opportunity to raise awareness on the issues that are important to them and advocate to provincial leaders for change so that community leaders can create an action plan. At the forum, they work together in small groups to present on an issue.
The Children’s Forum is held annually in the Hoa Binh, Cao Bang, and Bac Kan Provinces. We spoke to Ngan and Viet Anh about their experience.
How did you feel when you were chosen to represent children and young people from the Bac Kan province at the forum?
Ngan: I was very surprised, happy, and proud to be chosen to participate in the Forum and represent over 80,000 children in the province.
All other children participating in the city level forum were great, yet they voted for me to represent them in the province level forum.
Viet Anh: I am very happy and proud as I get to exchange knowledge with friends and learn many interesting things.
How do you feel after taking part in the Provincial Children’s Forum?
Ngan: My friends and I feel both happy and sad.
Happy since we got to hang out and learn together, do teamwork, participate in many activities such as swimming at the Children’s Centre and visiting Bac Kan Province Sponsoring Association for People with Disability and Orphans.
But we were also sad to leave each other. I got to make friends with people from other districts. We will keep in touch though.
Viet Anh: I am very happy. After a full day of training, we were led by the teachers to visit the Bac Kan Province Sponsoring Association for People with Disability and Orphans. I got to speak to children with living with a disability. After that, we were taken to go swim at the Children’s Centre.
I got to make friends with other people from other districts which was really fun. We still keep in touch, and I hope we get a chance to meet again next year.
Which group presentation were you most impressed with and why?
Ngan: I was most impressed with the group presenting on child sexual harassment since they gave a very strong opinion on the matter and showed us how to prevent such harassment. From their performance, I learned how to prevent sexual harassment for myself when I am in a similar situation.
Viet Anh: I remember the presentation of a group on physical and mental harassment since they provided reasons leading to such harassments. From there, I learned how to apply suitable and effective solutions to prevent these harassments.
What were you most impressed with at the forum?
Ngan: I was impressed with the dialogue section between children and local leaders where groups raise opinions and were responded by local leaders. For example, on the question on how to prevent child sexual harassment, a province leader has responded and provided solutions for harassment prevention.
Viet Anh: I was impressed with the children’s drawings. I think they are so creative and smart to reflect a story of a child who was sexually harassed as well as the solution to the story through simple drawings.
What does the forum mean to you and other children?
Ngan: The forum is very meaningful, it gives us a place to have fun and allows us to raise our voices, helps us make many new friends and participate in many useful activities. I learned a lot of useful knowledge about children’s rights and how to prevent when we are sexually or physically abused.
Viet Anh: The forum enhances children’s capacity in realising children’s rights, creates a favourable environment for children to voice opinion on issues related to us, and enhances the responsibility of party committees, authorities, and organisations in the implementation of child law, child rights, and child protection work, especially around safety assurance and prevention of violence against children.
Can you give an example where recommendations made at the forum have been implemented by provincial leaders?
Both: In recent Children’s Forums, children have voiced their opinions on the issue of child protection at a grassroots level. Local leaders have stepped in by focusing on building a child protection system at the grassroots, the Department of Labour – Invalids and Social Affairs has developed guidelines for the establishment of a Standing group for child protection and a team of child protection staff in the communes. At the same time, the Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs also advocates for policies to provide financial support from the state budget for child protection workers.
In the report on plan implementation from recommendations of children at the previous Forum, particularly on online safety for children, the leaders mentioned what they have done such as organising communication sessions on online safety for students in school, in summer activities.
