Background: Soc Son is mountainous, poorest district of Ha Noi, the rate of malnourished children was highest level (28,2% in 2003). Objectives: Description and assessment on the effectiveness of microcredit program for developing household economy and the impact of microcredit program on care for pregnant women, children and nutrition situation for children in 7 communes of Soc Son district in 3 years (2003-2006). Subjects and method: 167 poor households with malnourished child/children or pregnant women with low weight gain which were provided loans in 7 communes of Soc Son district; 169 children were born after 1/6/2001 and their mother in 167 households above. Method: cross-sectional descriptive method combine comparative analysis, using interview ballot, growth chart of National Institute of nutrition. Data processing by software EPI 6.0 and SPSS/PC 12.0. Results: The microcredit program had helped 95,0% households improve their economy remarkably, 54,5% of the households had improved income and food security. These improvements had influenced positively on practice of maternal and child care and malnutrition situation among children under 5 years old. The rate of pregnant women taking sufficient rest before birth delivery and having appropriate workload during pregnancy increased by 29,7%. Low-birth-weight newborns (<2,500 gram) had decreased by 11,5%. The rate of children with more than 3 complementary meals had increased by 8,5%. Malnutrition prevalence of children under 5 years old in 7 communes had decreased by 6,9%. Conclusion: The program has contributed to lower malnutrition prevalence of children under 5 years old in Soc Son district by 6,6%.
Child Nutrition Disorders/ diet therapy ; epidemiology ;

In the process of medical care of acute diarrhea in children, two pathophysiologic aspects should be considered: dehydration associated with electrolyte imbalance, and nutritional disorder. It is important to continue to provide foods easy to digest with appropriate recipes from the early stage after a remedy of dehydration using oral rehydration solution or intravenous fluid therapy according to patients' condition. Nil per os or diluted diet can slow the recovery of an intestinal function and lengthen the diarrheal period. Although the damage on the intestinal mucosa occurs from various causes, the gastrointestinal mucosa maximizes absorbing capacity by expanding the area of a surface. Early oral-feeding contributes to restoring mucosa favorably and thus facilitates a rapid improvement of symptoms. Breast-feeding should continue to be performed in the midst of rehydration, and lactose-containing regular cow's milk formula is recommended for cow's milk-fed patients after rehydration. In mild or severe acute diarrhea, administering probiotics in conjunction with feeding is expected to shorten the diarrheal period.
Child ; Dehydration ; Diarrhea ; Diet ; Fluid Therapy ; Humans ; Intestinal Mucosa ; Milk ; Mucous Membrane ; Nutrition Disorders ; Probiotics

Ascorbic Acid ; administration & dosage ; Child ; Child Nutrition Disorders ; complications ; diet therapy ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Femoral Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; Femur ; diagnostic imaging ; Humans ; Male ; Protein-Energy Malnutrition ; complications ; diet therapy ; Radiography ; Scurvy ; diagnosis ; diet therapy ; etiology ; physiopathology ; Treatment Outcome