Health Indicators
Programs
Summary: Phase 3. Scale-up delivery at the national or sub-national level
Vietnam has implemented an MMS program as part of its antenatal care services since the 1990s. A significant reduction of central investment for the program in 2018 caused a shortage in supply and operational costs. Since then, the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) has distributed MMS to pregnant women [donated by Vitamin Angels (VA)] in 85 of the “poorest districts” in 28 provinces across the country in the context of emergency services for pregnant women. In 2021, NIN, with support from VA, conducted a landscape analysis to map the context and extent of readiness for implementing an MMS intervention as part of antenatal care services in the country, and make recommendations about how to best make investments in order to effectively scale up MMS in the Vietnam. Recommendations from the assessment include (i) adding MMS to the Vietnam essential medicines list, (ii) developing provincial nutrition action plans that include MMS, and (iii) developing a proposal for implementation research/piloting to inform the scale-up of MMS in Vietnam. The country conducted advocacy raising activities related to MMS programmes in 2024 and government now has a policy/strategy that includes MMS for pregnant women. MMS is provided free to pregnant women through the national public health system.
(Sources: HMHB Survey 2025, NutriDash and HMHB Survey 2021-2023)