DIPA’s finalist : learn more about Kitti Sranacharoenpong

Prof. Kitti Sranacharoenpong is one of the finalist of the 3rd edition of the Danone International Prize for Alimentation for his projet ”The Lao breast milk’s project”

Lao PDR is experiencing a high burden of under-nutrition in children, especially stunting.

Some nutrient deficiencies among pregnant and lactating women and children persist, in particular, low birth weight, underweight in school-aged children, calcium deficiency, vitamin A deficiency and iron deficiency among under five and school-aged children, especially in rural areas in Lao.

Recent appraisal identified key barriers of limited knowledge and counseling skills of frontline community-based health care workers (CHCWs). Consequently, the program proposed by Kitti SRANACHAROENPONG aims to build capacity to address under-nutrition in Lao PDR through innovative learning approaches in nutrition education, support, and the accreditation of CHCWs. It will focus specifically on community capacity building, which can then link up with program manager capacity building in other health promotion programs for maternal and child. The main concerns are about:

– Quantity and quality of breast milk of Lao mothers, because of stunting and wasting problems in infants;

– Food taboos, belief and food culture;

– Food availability and practices of Lao lactating women and their families.

The Lao breast milk’s project is part of the important research from Lao Ministry of Health (Lao-MOH) collaborated with Mahidol University in Thailand to have evidence-based research results to promote exclusive breastfeeding for infants. Food-based dietary guidelines for lactating women and infants will be developed based on the research results and will be implemented.