This review describes national plans of action for nutrition (NPANs) in six Southeast Asia countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam) in order to provide an understanding of the approach and framework undertaken by these countries in the formulation and implementation of NPANs, as well as the similarities and differences in various NPAN components. The six countries recognised the persistent undernutrition and escalating rates of obesity and other diet-related chronic diseases as the key drivers for nutrition action plan implementation. The prioritisation of nutrition interventions outlined in these NPANs are based on respective country context and needs. Although differing in strategies and targets set, these countries show similarities in several components including objectives, stakeholder involvement, nutritional issues to be addressed, implementation, monitoring and evaluation mechanism, programme/ activities identified and challenges in implementing NPANs. Countries have recognised that effective implementation, monitoring and evaluation are essential to successfully address both extremes of the challenging nutrition situation. Several important similarities in the NPANs studied suggest that closer collaboration among countries and stakeholders on NPANs would be beneficial. Opportunities should be created for periodic exchanges to enable sharing of experiences in the development and implementation of NPANs among the countries. Recommendations and conclusions drawn from this review could serve as useful reference for nutrition policy and planning in the future.

This review summarises the officially published recommended energy and nutrient intake values in five Southeast Asia (SEA) countries namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The background information, general approaches and references used for setting up recommendations and the recommended intakes levels for energy, protein, fat and carbohydrate, dietary fibre, sugars,14 vitamins and 15 minerals of these countries were tabulated and compared. The recommended intake values show remarkable similarities in terms of approaches and principles taken, as well as references used as the basis for the recommendations development and the application of the recommendations in respective country. There are nevertheless some differences in age groupings, reference height and weight used, as well as the final recommendations of the intake levels for some nutrients, after adjustment to suit local situations. All five countries had provided recommendations in terms of recommended nutrient intakes (RNI) or recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for almost all the nutrients. Due to the limited availability of local data and resources, countries in the region have referred to several references, including those from Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization (FAO/WHO) consultation report and recommendations from research organisations in United States and Europe and adapted the values for local uses. Opportunities should be created to enable closer dialogue and collaboration regarding future developments in nutrient recommendations for populations in the region. These could include consideration of establishing more appropriate nutrient recommendations and the call for setting up harmonised approaches to establishing recommended nutrient intake values for the region.