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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health and Nutrition
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1548956
This article is part of the Research Topic Sustainable Approaches to Public Health Via Food Policy Actions View all articles
Unpacking food environment policy landscapes for healthier diets in 'emerging' countries: the case of Viet Nam Authors
Provisionally accepted
Brice Even 1*
Trang Thi Thu Truong 2
Hang Thai 1,3
Huong Thi Mai Pham 1
Duong Nguyen 2 Anh Thi Viet Bui 2
Christophe Béné 4,5- 1 International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Hanoi, Vietnam
- 2 The Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development (IPSARD), Hanoi, Vietnam
- 3 The University of Auckland, Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- 4 International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Cali, Cauca, Colombia
- 5 Wageningen Economic Research, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, Netherlands
Objective: Food systems and food environments are evolving rapidly in Viet Nam, concurrently with significant shifts in dietary patterns and health outcomes. This study aims to identify critical gaps in the national regulatory framework governing food environment in Viet Nam and to propose actionable recommendations to overcome these gaps.Results: using the Food Environment Policy Index from the INFORMAS network, we mobilized a transdisciplinary panel of 18 experts to co-analyse and assess policy evidence, as well as codevelop policy recommendations. The assessment, encompassing 35 indicators across six food environment domains, revealed substantial gaps: 74% of indicators scored low or very low, while only 26% scored medium or high. Key gaps were identified in food composition standards, marketing, labeling, and financial incentives. Recommendations from the experts focused on strengthening food composition standards, enhancing consumer education, and fostering intersectoral policy integration.Implications: This study provides a comprehensive evaluation of Viet Nam's food environment policies and offers actionable recommendations to foster food environments conducive of healthier diets. Drawing on Viet Nam as a case study representative of challenges in other low-and middle-income countries, our findings highlight the importance of strong political commitment to prioritize public health over industry interests in order to create healthier, more equitable food environments and food systems.
Keywords: Food system, Food Environment, Healthy diet, food policy, public healh, LMIC
Received: 20 Dec 2024; Accepted: 24 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Even, Truong, Thai, Pham, Nguyen, Bui and Béné. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Brice Even, International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Hanoi, Vietnam
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