Millions of families in the poverty-ridden areas in Vietnam are struggling to feed their children; but in more developed areas like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, a large number of urban kids are fighting a losing battle against obesity.

About 28 percent of primary students in rural areas are suffering from malnutrition compared to 20 percent of those in urban areas, according to the National Institute of Nutrition.

But for the Vietnamese city dwellers who can afford it, there is another child nutrition problem mounting. Growing obesity - commonly found in developed countries, is rampant. And with it comes the usual myriad of health problems.

According to the institute, obesity is recorded in ten percent of children in Hanoi and 20 percent of those from Ho Chi Minh City, Lao Dong (Labor) newspaper reported.

“My kid often wants to drink soft drinks both at home and outside,” Duong Ngoc, from Ho Chi Minh City’s District 3 told Sai Gon Giai Phong (Sai Gon Liberated) newspaper about her six-year-old son.

“I have banned him from drinking those things many times for fear of him getting fat; but I let him have what he wants since I love my kid,” she said.

The mother of the 70-kilogram boy said her son often complained about being tired, sleepy and liked to eat between meals.

Ngoc’s son was among about 100 overweight kids sent to the Clinical Nutrition Consultancy Ward of the HCMC Nutrition Center every day, according to Tran Quoc Cuong, a doctor at the facility.

Most overweight children are about five to six-years-old. There was also one case of a nine-year-old boy who came in at a hefty 110 kilograms, according to Cuong.

Parents who brought their children to the hospitals because their kids were showing symptoms of respiratory diseases, diabetes or heart diseases found out the hard way that there are consequences to obesity, according to the doctor.

“Childhood obesity among primary students is seeing an unprecedented surge compared to the past,” Do Thi Ngoc Diep, deputy director of the center, said. “It is really an alarming problem.”

A recent survey of the center on two primary schools in HCMC’s District 10 found that nearly 30 percent of the kids are overweight or obese.

Children under 15 years old account for the majority of overweight and obese kids, according to the center.

“The number of overweight and obese kids is increasing in a fast pace in HCMC where the highest ratio of children with the problem is recorded,” Diep told Tien Phong (Pioneer) newspaper.

Only 2.2 percent of children under five years old in HCMC were found to be suffering from the problem in 1999 but the figure rose to 10.9 percent nine years later.

According to local health officials, an unhealthy diet, a lack of exercise and parents’ tendency to spoil their kids are the major factors behind the surge in obesity.

Children in urban cities nowadays are growing attached to fast-food and soft drinks with high concentrations of sugar and fats as their parents have less time to prepare nutritious, home-cooked meals.

They are also spending more time watching television and playing video games while staying away from outdoor activities.

Parents are also being held accountable for the health problems of their children. Many parents consider their kids’ gaining weight as a sign of good health and yield to their children’s habits of consuming an excessive amount of unhealthy food.

Diep said obesity would turn the children into slow learners and expose them to many health complications, including diabetes, cancer and heart diseases.

Parents have yet to pay enough attention to the impact of obesity in children, Pham Duy Tuong, head of the Faculty of Public Health under the Hanoi Medical University told Lao Dong (Labor) newspaper.

The country needs to draw up national-scale strategies to tackle the problems of obesity as well as malnutrition among local children, he said.

Compiled by Hong Nguyen   full article.