A New Horizon: Addressing Food and Nutrition Problems in the Lao People's Democratic Republic

This paper provides information from the Lao People's Democratic Republic on household food security, current nutrition problems, their magnitudes and trends, food and nutrition policy and activities, and strategies for the development of short- and long-term approaches to dealing with the problems. Data were obtained during a recent UNl-CEF-supported consultancy, the objective of which was to assess young child nutrition and household food security as a prerequisite for recommending appropriate community-based primary health care and information system interventions. The data were collected through published and unpublished documents, observations of Lao PDR medical and health facilities, rural schools, and villages, and interviews with Laotian nutrition and health specialists. The findings show that house-hold food security rests unstably on a risk-diffusion strategy and women's participation. A number of nutrition disorders are also prevalent. Control strategies require both long- and short-term actions focusing on assessment, advocacy, planning, training, appropriate model development, and communication for food and nutrition.