Ngoc-Thanh Tieu Rose Hills
Ethnic Variations of the Double Burden of Malnutrition in Vietnam
Vietnam’s demographic transition to increased urbanization and rapid economic development have led to a nutrition transition from traditional to nontraditional, processed diets. Vietnam endures a double burden of malnutrition, the simultaneous prevalence of childhood stunting, thinness, overweight, and obesity. However, these outcomes have not been distributed evenly, particularly when comparing child growth status between different ethnicities. There is a need to explore the prevalence of child malnutrition among Vietnam’s ethnicities, examine if there are significant differences between them, and, lastly, examine potential risk and/or protective factors associated with these outcomes. My research is a secondary analysis across five rounds on 1961 Vietnamese children from the Young Lives Cohort Study from 2002 to 2017. Community, household, and individual child characteristics (using variables modeled from the ecological framework) were collected from children aged 1, 5, 8, 12, and 15. I hope my research will encourage more research focused on recognizing each ethnic minority’s individual merits and culture and encouraging future public health policies and interventions to shrink the wide socioeconomic and health gap across ethnicities.
Message To Sponsor
I want to graciously thank the donors and funders of my project. The opportunity to do research, something I personally consider "organized curiosity," is something I never imagined I would have the privilege to do in my undergraduate experience. I am so grateful for the support and encouragement provided to explore this interest of mine in Public Health.