In an era of economic growth, is inequity holding back reductions in child malnutrition in Vietnam?

In the past decade of economic growth, Vietnam has achieved an impressive rate of socioeconomic development. However, the rate of improvement in child malnutrition lags far behind that of most other health indicators. This study examines factors other than income that might affect this inability to reduce rapidly child malnutrition by exploring the socioeconomic factors that explain the high rates of stunting and underweight status of many Vietnamese children. A nationally representative survey of Vietnamese households, the 1997-98 Vietnam Living Standards Survey (VLSS) is used. Multivariate logit is used for regression analysis. The key parameters are household poverty status, total expenditure level, rural residence, and minority status with controls for many key socio-demographic measures. Children from rural households, poor households, and ethnic minority backgrounds are significantly more likely to be malnourished (with a 17.6%, 10.9%, and 14.1%, respectively, greater prevalence of malnutrition) than are urban residents, non-poor households, and the majority Kinh population. These results suggest that economic improvements in Vietnam have, for the most part, bypassed the rural poor and minorities and that targeting economic resources towards these groups will be most critical for reducing undernutrition in Vietnam.