Each needy child dwelling in provinces across Vietnam will receive two boxes of milk a day for two months under an annual campaign to reduce malnutrition by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Children in a kindergarten in Ho Chi Minh City are provided milk in their daily ration Photo: Tuoi Tre

The VND7 billion (USD333,000) campaign, organized by the ministry's National Fund for Vietnamese Children and Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk), will last for one year, two months in each province.

The average milk consumption rate in Vietnam last year was 15 liters of milk per capita, which is still much lower than in other countries in the region.

A recent survey has shown that one of every three under-five Vietnamese children is stunted, the low consumption rate of milk is one of the reasons behind this high malnutrition rate.

This is the fourth consecutive year that the organizations’ Vuon Cao Vietnam Milk Fund will bring milk to poor children around the country. Since the program’s inception in 2008, hundreds of thousands of underprivileged children in Vietnam have been offered free milk.

The campaign has thus far donated eight million and ten thousand glasses of milk to poor children in Vietnam, according to organisers.