The first General Nutrition Survey was conducted between 1981-1985. Further surveys were carried out in 1987-1989 and in 2000. This fourth, and most recent General Survey, was conducted in 2009-2010.

In addition to the aforementioned general surveys, additional data have been collected in the following surveys: Epidemiological survey of vitamin A deficiency and exophthalmia (1985), Survey on maternal and child nutritional status and exophthalmia (1994), National survey of nutritional anemia (1995 and 2000), Assessing the PEM project (2004), and the General survey of overweight and obesity in adults (2005).

The 4th General Survey was conducted to evaluate the 2001-2010 National Nutrition Strategy goals, as well as to provide scientific evidence of trends in food consumption and nutrition status for the National Nutrition Strategy for 2011-2020, with a vision toward 2030.

In addition, data from the General Survey are also useful for nutrition research in national institutions and universities.

The National Institute of Nutrition worked closely in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Department of Science and Training, Department of Preventive Medicine, Department of Maternal and Child Health, and Vietnam Food Administration to successfully conduct the survey.

We also gratefully acknowledge technical guidance from General Statistic Office and UNICEF Hanoi.

Special thanks are also due to the Department of Health and Preventive Medicine Centers in all provinces and cities, as well as local health care workers and households for their active participation.

We are delighted to present the findings of the comprehensive report on the General Nutrition Survey for 2009-2010.

Viet Nam has made overall progress in basic education. Net enrolment rates for primary and second level are 95.5 per cent and 86.2 per cent, respectively (2009 Census). Between 1992 and 2008, primary level completion rates rose from 45.0 per cent to 89.8 per cent.

Despite major achievements in the education sector in Viet Nam, however disparities still remain and education attainment is much lower among several groups, particularly among ethnic minority groups. For ethnic minority children, low enrolment and completion and high drop-out and repetition rates remain a challenge. According to the Government’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS, 2011), the primary school completion rate among ethnic minority children is significantly lower than that of Kinh and Hoa children: 79.8 per cent and 103.1 per cent, respectively. There is also inequality between different ethnic minority groups. Figure 1 shows that the primary school net attendance rate among the Mong is as low as 69.6 per cent, while the rate among the Tay is the highest of all, 93.5 per cent, followed by Kinh of 92.6 per cent (Census, 2009).

This Profile was prepared to present key findings from the Primary Classroom Language Mapping in Lao Cai province, conducted by UNICEF in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Training, Lao Cai Department of Education and Planning, and Summer Institute of Linguistics International. The mapping was to collect information on primary school students' strongest language and academic performance, and the teacher's ethnicity and second language abilities. It helped to identify monolingual school sites, where mother tongue based bilingual education (MTBBE) can be applied; the number of teachers who can potentially be the MTBBE teachers; and where students are performing well and where students are performing weakly. The instrument has proven effective and other provinces plan to apply it in future.

The amendment of the 1992 Constitution offers Viet Nam an opportunity to strengthen the rule of law, promote human rights and enhance equality as well as socio-economic and political stability. While the current draft includes a number of significant and positive changes, UNICEF believes the current draft can be made more responsive to the needs of a third of the country's population – its children.

UNICEF's mission is to advocate for the protection of children's rights, to help meet their basic needs and create opportunities to allow children to reach their full potential. UNICEF's work is guided by the provisions and principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). UNICEF has extensive experience, globally and regionally, supporting countries to reflect the rights of children within their constitutions.

After almost 30 years of renovation from a centralized planning economy to a market-oriented one, Vietnam has witnessed significant achievements in economic development, poverty reduction and international integration. Various areas of governance have been reformed and institutionalized to effectively facilitate this process.

Nevertheless, the planning process (including planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation) as an important state management tool still faces a number of constraints posed by the market economy and accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The most notable and also the key limitation of the current planning process is the lack of an institutional framework from the central to local level on the reform of a results- based, participatory, and market driven planning process, even though this has been mentioned in important documents of the Party and the Government. Therefore, needs for planning reform and institutionalization of such a reform have become necessary and important.

Within their operation framework, many internationally-funded projects in Viet Nam have supported the government at all levels in piloting the planning reform. Some projects have developed and piloted different manuals to foster their planning reform mainly at communal level. The support of international organizations, on one hand, has helped localities and institutions pilot and apply modern and scientific planning tools and approaches. On the other hand, these initiatives fell short of consistence and coordination from the central to local levels in the whole planning system. In reality, the national, local and sectorial SEDPs are generally developed following conventional approach under the direction of Ministry of Planning and Investment’s annual planning guidelines.