Of Milk and Minorities: Equity and Consumption in Vietnam

May 21, 2019 | Jody Harris
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Recently, I found myself sitting on a low stool in a small, neat home in the central highlands of Vietnam, talking to three young mothers about nutrition. As part of my research, I was trying to understand how nutrition is changing in Vietnam, and one emerging story was the large disparity in nutrition outcomes between the Kinh ethnic majority in Vietnam – among whom stunting levels have dropped impressively in recent years – and ethnic minority groups living in places such as this community in the central highlands, where malnutrition rates remain persistently high. Through my translator, I finished the questions I had for the women, then asked if they had any questions for me before we ended the interview.