Nutritional status of children under five years old visiting the National Institute of Nutrition in 2025

Abstract

Malnutrition among children under five remains one of the major public health challenges in many developing countries, including Vietnam. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2025 on 224 children aged from 0 to 59 months visiting the Department of Pediatric Nutrition Consultation at the National Institute of Nutrition and their mothers. Anthropometric measurements, including weight, height, or length were taken to assess the children’s nutritional status. The results showed that the prevalence of underweight, stunting, and wasting was 32.6, 31.2, and 17.4%, respectively. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 2.7%. In total, 49.1% of the children had at least one form of malnutrition; 11.6% had stunting alone; 19.2% had both stunting and underweight; and 7.6% presented with all three forms of malnutrition. These findings indicate children attending the Department of Paediatric Nutrition Consultation at the National Institute of Nutrition had high prevalences of malnutrition, highlighting the need for strengthened early and personalised nutritional interventions during the first 1,000 days of life.