PM imposes ban on sale of soft drinks at schools (Illustrative image. Source VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) - Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has decided to imposea ban on the sale of all types of soft drinks at schools across the country.
The PMhas asked the Ministries of Health, Education and Training, and Labour, War Invalidsand Social Affairs to implement the regulation in a bid to improve children’shealth and height.
TheMinistry of Education and Training has been asked to raise the awareness ofteachers and students on how to eat a healthy, balanced diet and ensure foodhygiene and safety.
Theministry has also been asked to improve the quality of meals at schools as wellas organise programmes to encourage students to drink milk instead of softdrinks.
Inaddition, advertisements for soft drinks, alcohol drinks and unhealthy foodmust be banned at schools, according to the PM.
A softdrink is a drink that typically contains carbonated water, a sweetener andnatural or artificial flavouring. Soft drinks may also contain caffeine, colourings,preservatives and other ingredients.
Many countries in the world have imposed such a banconsidering the harmful and adverse effects of soft drinks on children’shealth.
Experts have called for the urgent implementation of thisregulation.
The rateof malnourished children under five years old with extremely low height andweight is 24 per cent and 14 per cent, respectively, according to the lateststatistics from the National Institute of Nutrition.
Meanwhile,the number of obese children in big cities across the country is increasing atan alarming rate, almost the same as the rate of obese children in the world,according to the institute.
In 2011,the Government launched a programme to increase the height and physical fitnessof Vietnamese people in the 2011-30 period.
However,the programme has not been implemented due to a lack of funding. Meanwhile, theindicators on height show that the Vietnamese are the shortest in SoutheastAsia.-VNA
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PM imposes ban on sale of soft drinks at schools (Illustrative image. Source VNA) 
