Social Prescribing and Food Insecurity in Viet Nam: Where Could Care Navigation Support Food Access, and When Must Nutrition and Social Protection Services Lead?
VIET NAM CONTEXT
Social Prescribing and Food Insecurity in Viet Nam: Where Could Care Navigation Support Food Access, and When Must Nutrition and Social Protection Services Lead?
Category: Viet Nam Context
Last reviewed: October 2026
A woman living with a chronic health condition visits her local healthcare facility for a routine appointment. During the consultation, she receives advice about eating a more varied diet. She understands the recommendations, but following them is difficult. Her working hours are unpredictable, affordable fresh food is not always easy to obtain, and she sometimes has to rely on whatever is available at home.
She is not necessarily going hungry. Some days, she has enough food but limited choices. On other days, she worries about whether she can afford suitable food for the rest of the week. Her concern is not simply what she should eat, but whether she can consistently obtain it.
This is a problem that dietary advice alone may not resolve.
Food insecurity involves uncertain or limited access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food because of financial or other resource constraints. People may experience it even when food is readily available in nearby markets. For some, affordability is the main difficulty. Others may face additional barriers involving transportation, unstable livelihoods, disability, or disruptions following illness or a natural disaster.
Social prescribing may help people connect with existing community resources when they need information or practical assistance. However, identifying a food-related need and arranging an introduction to a support organization are not the same as diagnosing malnutrition, providing clinical nutrition treatment, determining eligibility for public benefits, or ensuring a reliable food supply.
These responsibilities belong to different services and authorities.
For Viet Nam, the question is where care navigation could help people access appropriate food-related support without taking over responsibilities that belong to healthcare professionals, social protection authorities, or food assistance providers.
Food insecurity is not the same as hunger, poverty, or malnutrition
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) describes food security through four main dimensions: availability, access, utilization, and stability. International discussions also recognize the importance of people's agency and the sustainability of food systems.
These dimensions help explain why food insecurity cannot be understood simply by examining how much food is produced or sold.
A community may have sufficient food in its markets, but some households may still struggle to obtain it. A family may have enough food today but be uncertain about next week. Another household may be able to purchase inexpensive staple foods while finding it difficult to afford a varied and nutritious diet.
The stability of access is particularly important. A temporary loss of income, illness, unexpected household expenses, or disruption to local food supplies may change what a family can obtain.
FAO's Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) measures people's experiences of constrained access to food. Its eight questions cover situations ranging from worrying about having enough food and being unable to eat a healthy diet to reducing food intake, skipping meals, or going without food because of insufficient money or other resources.
The scale is used internationally to estimate the severity of food insecurity, including for monitoring Sustainable Development Goal indicator 2.1.2.
However, FIES measures experienced food access constraints. It is not a clinical test for malnutrition or a comprehensive assessment of dietary quality, food safety, or nutritional status.
This distinction matters for healthcare and social prescribing.
A person may experience food insecurity without meeting clinical criteria for malnutrition. Conversely, someone may develop malnutrition because of illness, swallowing difficulties, impaired nutrient absorption, or increased nutritional requirements even when adequate food is available.
Food insecurity is also not identical to poverty, although financial hardship is an important contributing factor. Household income alone may not reveal whether someone can consistently obtain suitable food, particularly when mobility, caregiving, or geographical barriers are involved.
Similarly, poor dietary quality does not automatically establish food insecurity. Food choices may be influenced by knowledge, preferences, cultural practices, health conditions, and other factors.
Physical access also requires careful interpretation. Someone who has difficulty reaching a market because of reduced mobility may need practical assistance obtaining groceries. However, that difficulty alone does not necessarily establish food insecurity as measured by FIES. The problem becomes particularly relevant to food insecurity when limited resources or the absence of suitable assistance constrain the person's ability to obtain food.
These circumstances can overlap, but they should not be treated as interchangeable.
Someone who cannot obtain adequate food needs more than general nutrition education. Someone with clinically significant malnutrition needs appropriate professional care even if community food assistance is available. Some people may require both.
A responsible social prescribing approach should recognize these differences rather than treat every food-related difficulty as the same problem.
Why does food access matter in Viet Nam?
Viet Nam has made substantial progress in food production, economic development, and nutrition over recent decades. However, national progress does not mean that everyone has the same opportunity to obtain sufficient and appropriate food.
UNICEF Viet Nam continues to highlight nutrition inequalities affecting disadvantaged children and families, particularly in remote areas and ethnic minority communities.
These inequalities reflect interconnected challenges involving household resources, geographical distance, local infrastructure, access to essential services, and language or cultural barriers.
Food access difficulties are not limited to rural communities. In urban areas, people with irregular employment may struggle to maintain consistent spending on food. An older adult living alone may have enough money for basic groceries but find shopping or food preparation physically difficult. Someone with a disability may encounter inaccessible markets or transportation arrangements.
These examples illustrate circumstances that may affect food access. They do not establish that everyone in these groups is food insecure.
Environmental disruptions can make access less reliable. Flooding, storms, and damage to livelihoods may affect household income, transportation, food supplies, safe water, and the ability to prepare meals.
The 2026 edition of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, jointly prepared by FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, and WHO, examines the high cost of a healthy diet and the structural factors that make nutritious foods unaffordable for many people.
The report reinforces an important distinction between having food available and being able to afford a healthy diet. It also highlights how food production, transportation, storage, processing, and market conditions influence the cost of nutritious foods.
For Viet Nam, UNICEF-supported activities provide examples of how different forms of assistance may be coordinated.
In its reporting on results for 2025, UNICEF described a Nutrition Cash Plus pilot in Gia Lai that combined cash and nutrition support for 245 children and pregnant women. UNICEF reported improvements in dietary diversity and reductions in severe stunting within the supported initiative.
A separate UNICEF report published in August 2026 described an emergency Nutrition Cash Plus response in disaster-affected areas of Gia Lai. Implemented with local authorities and Viet Nam Post, the program supported more than 700 households with children under five experiencing acute malnutrition or severe stunting.
The assistance included unconditional cash transfers to help families purchase food and other essentials, together with nutritional supplements and counseling from health workers.
These reports describe specific activities and beneficiary groups. Their figures should not be combined into a single national estimate or interpreted as evidence that similar programs are available throughout Viet Nam.
The reported improvements also should not be taken as proof that each program component independently caused the observed outcomes.
What these experiences illustrate is the importance of coordinating different types of support when households face interconnected difficulties.
Cash assistance may help families purchase food, while healthcare and nutrition services address specific health needs. Local authorities and community organizations may contribute other forms of support within their respective responsibilities.
For social prescribing, the relevant opportunity is to help people find and reach appropriate services that already exist, not to reproduce these programs or assume that care navigation can replace them.
When food access becomes a concern during healthcare
Food insecurity may become apparent during a healthcare consultation even when it is not the reason for the appointment.
A patient may receive advice to eat regular meals but struggle to obtain food consistently. Another may understand dietary recommendations for a chronic condition but find the suggested foods difficult to afford, purchase, or prepare.
Someone recovering from illness may have limited strength to shop or cook. A family caring for a child with increased nutritional needs may face practical difficulties that are not immediately apparent during a brief clinical encounter.
In such situations, repeating dietary advice may not address the main problem.
Healthcare professionals may need to understand whether the person can realistically obtain and prepare appropriate food. However, they should not assume that every difficulty following dietary recommendations is caused by food insecurity.
Some problems require clinical assessment. Others concern resources, accessibility, or household circumstances. Sometimes these difficulties are closely connected.
For example, a patient with diabetes may need individualized nutrition advice from an appropriately qualified healthcare professional. If the patient also struggles to obtain food regularly, a separate response to food access may be appropriate.
Similarly, a child with suspected acute malnutrition requires professional assessment and treatment. Support with household food access may complement that care, but it cannot replace it.
The potential contribution of social prescribing lies in helping address practical barriers that clinical advice alone cannot resolve.
It does not give community navigators responsibility for deciding what someone should eat to treat a medical condition.
Identifying food insecurity through respectful conversations
Food insecurity cannot always be recognized through appearance, body weight, or ordinary clinical observations.
People may hesitate to discuss difficulties obtaining food because they feel embarrassed, fear being judged, or do not know whether useful assistance is available. Others may not consider themselves food insecure even when they regularly worry about food supplies or reduce the variety of foods they eat because of limited resources.
A respectful conversation may therefore be more useful than making assumptions based on income, employment, age, or where someone lives.
A healthcare or social care professional might ask whether a person has recently experienced difficulty obtaining the food they need, whether the situation has changed, and whether they would welcome information about available support.
The purpose is to understand the problem without making the person feel unnecessarily questioned about personal circumstances.
It may be important to distinguish an immediate shortage of food from longer-term uncertainty. Difficulties obtaining groceries, storing food, preparing meals, or accessing medically appropriate foods may also require different responses.
Structured food insecurity screening tools are used in some international healthcare settings. However, a tool developed or validated in another country should not automatically be assumed to perform equally well in Viet Nam.
FAO's FIES is primarily designed to measure experienced food insecurity and support population estimates. Shorter screening instruments have also been studied in clinical settings, particularly in the United States.
Their intended uses are not identical.
Introducing a structured screening process in Viet Nam would require consideration of language, cultural interpretation, population characteristics, staff training, and the suitability of the instrument for its intended purpose.
More importantly, identifying a need is not the same as resolving it.
A positive screening result does not establish that someone has malnutrition, qualifies for public assistance, or has access to a suitable community food program.
Organizations should therefore consider what practical response is available before introducing routine screening processes that may identify needs they cannot address.
Where someone reports an immediate food shortage or another urgent concern, the response should reflect the seriousness of the situation and the services actually available.
People should also be able to decline nonessential questions or voluntary assistance without being penalized in their access to healthcare.
Where could community care navigation help?
Care navigation may be useful when a person needs practical help finding or reaching food-related support that already exists.
The contribution may begin with understanding the particular barrier.
Someone who cannot afford sufficient food may need information about available public assistance or emergency support. An older person who cannot easily travel to a market may need help identifying an existing organization that provides suitable shopping or meal access assistance.
Another person may know that a local support program exists but be unsure whom to contact or whether it currently accepts new beneficiaries.
In these circumstances, a navigator could potentially help verify information, explain access arrangements, identify the responsible organization, or facilitate an introduction.
These are practical functions that could be incorporated into an appropriately designed service model. They should not automatically be treated as a separately licensed profession or an established nationwide navigation service in Viet Nam.
Not everyone experiencing food insecurity would need this assistance.
Some people may already know where to seek support. Others may prefer to contact a provider independently once they receive accurate information.
A healthcare professional, hospital social worker, or existing community organization may also be able to make the connection directly without involving an additional navigator.
Where navigation is useful, its contribution should be specific.
For example, a navigator might confirm that a program is operating, identify its current contact details, explain the provider's published access requirements, and help the person understand whether transportation or accessibility barriers may affect participation.
The navigator could also help arrange an introduction when the person wants assistance and the relevant organizational and information-sharing requirements have been met.
However, the navigator should not independently decide that a person qualifies for public assistance or promise food supplies, cash payments, or continued support without confirmation from the responsible provider.
There may also be circumstances where no suitable service is available. Acknowledging that limitation is better than making an inappropriate referral simply to complete a process.
The value of navigation is not measured by how many organizations someone contacts. It depends on whether the assistance helps the person reach an appropriate service that can actually respond to their needs.
Why the receiving service matters as much as the referral
A food-related community resource should not be considered suitable simply because it distributes food.
Some local charitable initiatives provide prepared meals. Others distribute groceries or food packages during particular periods, support selected households, or organize temporary assistance after emergencies.
Public programs and established social service organizations may provide other forms of assistance to people who meet specific criteria.
These services differ considerably in their purpose, availability, capacity, and duration.
A provider that offers one meal on a particular day cannot automatically be presented as a solution to persistent food insecurity. Similarly, an organization distributing food after a natural disaster may not have the resources or mandate to provide assistance throughout the year.
Before introducing someone to a provider, an appropriate navigation arrangement should establish what support is currently available and whether it matches the person's circumstances.
A service may offer free meals but operate too far from the person's home. Another may provide food packages that require cooking facilities or refrigeration the household does not have.
Food preferences and cultural practices may also affect whether assistance is useful.
The nutritional suitability of food requires particular care.
Food offered through an ordinary community program may not be appropriate for an infant, someone with swallowing difficulties, or a person requiring a medically prescribed diet.
These circumstances should be assessed by appropriately qualified healthcare professionals when clinical judgment is necessary.
Community navigators should not independently determine therapeutic diets or certify that food packages meet an individual's medical nutrition requirements.
Food safety is another important consideration.
Organizations that prepare, store, transport, or distribute food must consider the legal requirements applicable to their activities. Charitable status does not automatically exempt a provider from relevant food safety obligations.
A navigator may help obtain information about a provider and understand its arrangements, but should not claim to certify food safety compliance or nutritional adequacy without an appropriate professional or legal basis.
An effective connection depends on more than the existence of a food provider. The assistance must be relevant, accessible, and realistic, with responsibilities understood by everyone involved.
What could a practical food access connection look like?
Consider an older woman who lives alone and attends a healthcare appointment. She explains that she usually has food at home, but shopping has become difficult because of reduced mobility. Her family members live elsewhere, and she does not know whether a suitable local service could help her obtain groceries.
Her healthcare professional may need to assess relevant medical or functional concerns. At the same time, the difficulty obtaining food may justify a conversation about community support.
If an appropriate service exists, a social worker or suitably organized community navigator could help verify whether it offers shopping assistance, meal access, or another relevant form of support.
The woman could then decide whether she wants information or an introduction.
The receiving service would need to explain its actual availability, conditions, and limitations. If the healthcare or social work team can arrange this connection directly, an additional navigator may not be necessary.
Her difficulty shopping should not automatically be labeled food insecurity without understanding whether limited resources or other circumstances are preventing her from obtaining adequate food.
The response would also be different if she reported significant unintentional weight loss, swallowing difficulties, or signs of malnutrition. These concerns would require appropriate clinical assessment rather than being managed through community food access alone.
Similarly, if she were seeking public financial assistance subject to statutory eligibility requirements, the responsible authority would need to assess and determine the application according to the applicable rules.
These responsibilities can complement one another without becoming the same service.
Care navigation may help make a connection. Healthcare professionals address clinical assessment and treatment. Social protection authorities determine and administer public assistance within their legal responsibilities.
The challenge is to make these services work together without creating unnecessary steps for the person seeking support.
When must clinical nutrition services lead?
Food insecurity can contribute to nutritional difficulties, but it should not be treated as a clinical diagnosis.
A person may experience inadequate dietary intake, unintentional weight loss, micronutrient deficiencies, or other nutritional problems that require professional assessment.
Children with suspected acute malnutrition, people experiencing swallowing difficulties, patients with significant unintentional weight loss, and individuals requiring specialized nutritional support should be directed to appropriate healthcare services.
Pregnant women, infants, older adults, and people living with particular chronic conditions may also have specific nutritional needs that require professional attention.
The presence of food insecurity does not, by itself, determine the appropriate clinical intervention.
A patient with kidney disease, for example, may need individualized dietary advice that differs from general healthy eating recommendations. Someone recovering from serious illness may require specialized nutrition care.
Simply providing more food may not adequately address these needs and could be inappropriate if specific clinical restrictions or nutritional requirements are involved.
Viet Nam's Law on Medical Examination and Treatment No. 15/2023/QH15 establishes the broader legal framework for healthcare practice.
Ministry of Health Consolidated Document No. 16/VBHN-BYT, issued on 9 December 2025, consolidates the regulations concerning nutrition activities in hospitals. These provisions address professional responsibilities for hospital nutrition services, including assessment, counseling, nutritional treatment, and monitoring within the applicable institutional framework.
A community navigator should not independently diagnose malnutrition, prescribe therapeutic diets, determine medical requirements for nutritional supplements, or change a patient's nutrition treatment plan.
Ordinary food assistance should not be described as medical nutrition therapy.
Some international healthcare systems use medically tailored meals or other specialized food-based interventions. Such arrangements require appropriate clinical and organizational oversight and should not be confused with general community food distribution.
The distinction does not prevent collaboration.
A person may receive clinical nutrition care while also needing help obtaining suitable food at home. Care navigation may assist with practical access barriers, provided the receiving service understands the relevant requirements and professional responsibilities remain clear.
Clinical nutrition services must lead when professional assessment or treatment is needed.
When must social protection and public services lead?
Some food access difficulties require responses beyond what healthcare and community organizations can provide.
A household experiencing persistent inability to afford adequate food may need access to public social assistance, livelihood support, or other relevant services.
In Viet Nam, an important legal development occurred in October 2026.
Government Decree No. 335/2026/ND-CP on Social Assistance Policies, issued on 21 August 2026 and effective from 5 October 2026, establishes the current framework for several forms of social assistance.
The decree covers regular community-based assistance, support for community-based care, emergency assistance, and care in social assistance facilities.
It replaces Decree No. 20/2021/ND-CP and its amending Decree No. 76/2024/ND-CP. It also includes transitional provisions relevant to existing beneficiaries and changes to certain other social assistance arrangements.
This update matters because information provided to people seeking public assistance must reflect the law currently in force.
However, food insecurity does not automatically establish eligibility for a public benefit.
Different assistance programs have different purposes, eligibility criteria, administrative procedures, and responsible authorities.
A community navigator may help someone identify the relevant authority, understand publicly available information, or find appropriate assistance with an application.
The navigator should not independently approve benefits, determine statutory eligibility, or promise that an application will succeed.
Similarly, charitable support should not be presented as equivalent to a guaranteed public entitlement.
Emergency food access may involve additional responsibilities.
During floods, storms, or other disasters, households may simultaneously lose access to food, safe water, transportation, and livelihoods. The necessary response may involve public authorities, healthcare services, social protection, disaster management, and humanitarian organizations.
Community navigation may help people obtain accurate information or contact an available service, but it cannot replace these public systems.
Food safety responsibilities must also remain with the relevant providers and competent authorities.
Viet Nam's Law on Food Safety No. 55/2010/QH12 provides the general legal framework for food safety. The implementation framework underwent changes during 2026.
Government Decree No. 46/2026/ND-CP was issued on 26 January 2026. However, Government Resolution No. 15/2026/NQ-CP, issued and effective on 6 April 2026, suspended its application, along with Resolution No. 66.13/2026/NQ-CP, until the amended Law on Food Safety and its implementing decree take effect.
During the suspension, Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP and other applicable implementing provisions continue to govern relevant food safety matters.
These changes are relevant to organizations involved in food preparation, storage, distribution, and other regulated activities. They do not establish a national food-related social prescribing program or authorize community navigators to perform regulatory food safety functions.
For SPVN, the essential distinction is between helping people reach an existing service and assuming responsibility for providing, financing, regulating, or determining eligibility for that service.
What does international evidence tell us about screening and referral?
International research has examined how healthcare organizations identify food insecurity and connect people with assistance. However, the evidence does not support assuming that screening or referral automatically improves food security or health outcomes.
A systematic review by O'Connor and colleagues, published in JAMA in 2025, examined food insecurity screening and interventions in healthcare settings.
The review found that brief screening instruments could identify food insecurity with reasonable accuracy under the conditions studied.
However, the evidence was insufficient to establish that routine screening improved food security or health outcomes. Many intervention studies had methodological limitations, including a high risk of bias.
The US Preventive Services Task Force subsequently concluded that the evidence was insufficient to determine the balance of benefits and harms of screening for food insecurity in primary care.
This was not a recommendation against screening. Nor did it mean that asking about food access or offering appropriate assistance was ineffective.
The conclusion was that available research did not establish whether routine screening in primary care improved outcomes sufficiently to determine its overall benefits and harms.
More recent research highlights another important limitation.
A scoping review by Yearley and colleagues, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association in 2026, examined food insecurity screening and referral processes in United States healthcare settings.
The review included 136 studies and identified a wide range of approaches, including referrals to community food resources, healthcare-based services, federal nutrition programs, and Food Is Medicine interventions.
However, reporting on what happened after referral was inconsistent.
Approximately 46% of included studies reported referral rates, while 37% reported referral completion.
These percentages describe the proportion of studies reporting those measures. They do not mean that only 37% of referred patients successfully obtained assistance.
This distinction is important because documenting a referral does not demonstrate that the person reached the service or received appropriate food support.
A patient may receive information about a provider but discover that the program is unavailable, the location is inaccessible, or eligibility requirements cannot be met.
The review also found that none of the included studies specifically screened for nutrition insecurity, highlighting an important distinction between assessing constrained food access and examining access to nutritious foods.
This finding applies to the studies included in that review, based on literature searches conducted through May 2025. It should not be interpreted as meaning that research on nutrition insecurity screening does not exist or has not subsequently developed.
The findings are useful for understanding gaps in service design, but the reviewed studies concerned healthcare settings in the United States.
They do not establish the effectiveness of any particular food access navigation model in Viet Nam.
Social protection arrangements, public nutrition programs, community organizations, and healthcare responsibilities differ significantly between countries.
For Viet Nam, the evidence supports careful attention to what happens after a need is identified. Screening more people and generating more referrals should not be treated as success unless those activities lead to appropriate assistance.
Privacy and dignity should shape the conversation
Food insecurity can involve highly personal circumstances.
People may feel uncomfortable discussing household food difficulties, particularly if they fear judgment or are uncertain how the information will be used.
Some may worry that disclosing financial difficulties could affect how healthcare professionals, community organizations, or others perceive them.
A respectful approach should allow people to discuss their circumstances without pressure or unnecessary disclosure.
Where community assistance is voluntary, the person should be able to decide whether to receive information, accept an introduction, or decline support.
Information sharing also requires care.
Viet Nam's Law on Personal Data Protection No. 91/2025/QH15 and Government Decree No. 356/2025/ND-CP, both effective from 1 January 2026, establish relevant obligations concerning personal-data processing.
A referral between a healthcare organization and a community provider requires an appropriate legal basis and compliance with applicable consent, notification, confidentiality, and data protection requirements.
The receiving organization should generally receive only the information necessary for the agreed purpose.
A community food provider would not ordinarily need access to a person's complete medical record, detailed household finances, or unrelated family circumstances.
People seeking food assistance should also not be publicly identified, photographed, or presented as beneficiaries for promotional purposes without an appropriate legal basis and any required permissions.
Care navigation should make support easier to access without creating additional stigma or unnecessary exposure of personal information.
What would a responsible food access pathway look like in Viet Nam?
A realistic approach would begin by understanding existing services in a defined locality.
Healthcare organizations, social work services, community institutions, and other appropriate partners could examine which forms of food-related assistance are actually available, whom they serve, and how people can reach them.
The objective would not be to create a large directory containing every charity or public program. It would be to identify relevant services, verify their current availability, understand their limitations, and determine whether they can reasonably receive people seeking assistance.
Some organizations may provide prepared meals or groceries. Others may offer temporary emergency support, information about public assistance, or professional social work services.
These arrangements differ in eligibility requirements, capacity, and duration.
An appropriate connection pathway should distinguish immediate food shortages from longer-term access problems and recognize when clinical nutrition, professional social work, or statutory assistance must lead.
For someone who needs reliable information, direct contact with an existing provider may be sufficient. Another person may benefit from an introduction or practical assistance reaching the service.
More complex circumstances may require professional assessment or support that falls outside ordinary community navigation.
These different needs should not be forced into one referral process.
The capacity of receiving organizations is particularly important.
A charitable organization may rely on donated food, volunteers, or temporary funding. Accepting referrals from healthcare services may create additional demands that it cannot sustain.
Before establishing a partnership, the organizations involved should understand what assistance can realistically be provided and what happens when the service is unavailable.
They should also distinguish successful contact from actual access to food.
A person may receive a telephone number but be unable to travel to the provider. Another may contact the organization but be told that support is unavailable.
In such circumstances, an administrative referral may have been completed without resolving the original access difficulty.
A responsible pathway should recognize that difference and avoid describing every referral as a successful connection.
How would Viet Nam know whether care navigation adds value?
The value of care navigation should be assessed according to the problem the arrangement was intended to address.
If the objective is to improve access to reliable service information, an evaluation could examine whether people can identify appropriate support more easily.
If the purpose is to help people reach food assistance providers, the evaluation could consider whether those who wanted assistance made contact and actually received suitable support.
For individuals experiencing repeated food access difficulties, it would also be useful to understand whether assistance was sufficiently reliable and appropriate over time.
Receiving one food package should not automatically be interpreted as resolving persistent food insecurity.
Similarly, increased access to food should not be assumed to produce clinically meaningful nutritional improvements without appropriate evidence.
Food security, dietary quality, clinical nutritional status, and service access are related but different outcomes. They require different measures.
A local evaluation could examine the experiences of people receiving assistance, the barriers they encountered, and the capacity of community organizations.
It should also consider unintended consequences, including inappropriate referrals, privacy concerns, additional administrative work, or pressure on organizations with limited resources.
Where a food insecurity measurement tool is used, it should be suitable for the population and purpose. Any observed changes should be interpreted in light of the evaluation design and its limitations.
A small initiative may demonstrate that people can find services more easily or that referrals result in better practical connections.
It would not necessarily establish that care navigation caused improvements in nutritional status, reduced healthcare use, or produced financial savings.
Those conclusions would require stronger evidence.
For Viet Nam, the central question is whether navigation offers something that existing healthcare, social work, and community arrangements cannot already provide adequately.
If it does not, improving the existing services may be more appropriate than introducing another referral function.
Better food access requires more than a referral
Food insecurity concerns a basic part of everyday life: whether people can reliably obtain sufficient, safe, and nutritious food.
Its causes can involve household resources, health, local food supplies, transportation, community infrastructure, and public policy.
Social prescribing may contribute by helping people understand and reach suitable community resources when information or practical barriers make access difficult.
Its role, however, must remain proportionate to what navigation can realistically achieve.
A navigator may help someone identify an available food support program, understand access arrangements, or contact the appropriate organization.
The navigator cannot guarantee that food will remain affordable, that public assistance will be approved, or that a community provider will have sufficient resources to offer continuing support.
Nor can ordinary food assistance replace clinical nutrition treatment when someone has malnutrition or another condition requiring professional care.
For Viet Nam, responsible development should begin with the systems and resources already in place.
Some people need healthcare or clinical nutrition services. Others require public social assistance, emergency support, or longer-term measures addressing food access. Some may benefit from a simple introduction to an existing community organization.
These responses can complement one another, but they are not equivalent.
UNICEF-supported activities in Gia Lai illustrate how nutrition care and financial assistance can be coordinated in specific circumstances. They do not demonstrate that the same services are available throughout Viet Nam or that their functions can be replaced by community navigation.
International research also shows why identifying a need is not enough. A referral is useful only when it helps someone reach a service that can respond appropriately.
For Social Prescribing Vietnam (SPVN), the opportunity is to support evidence-informed learning and responsible collaboration among healthcare, social work, community organizations, and other relevant partners.
The aim is not to create another food distribution system or position social prescribing as a substitute for nutrition care, public assistance, or food security policy.
It is to examine where better information and practical connections could help people access existing support while respecting the responsibilities of the services involved.
Someone struggling to obtain suitable food does not necessarily need another assessment, another referral, or another organization asking the same questions. What matters is whether the available response actually addresses the difficulty they are experiencing.
Sometimes that response involves healthcare. Sometimes it requires public assistance or a community organization with relevant resources. In certain circumstances, care navigation may help make the connection possible.
The value of social prescribing lies in recognizing where that additional connection can help, while remaining clear about the responsibilities that belong to other services.
References
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. About the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES). FAO, Measuring Hunger, Food Security and Food Consumption.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Applying the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES). FAO, Measuring Hunger, Food Security and Food Consumption.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, International Fund for Agricultural Development, UNICEF, World Food Programme, and World Health Organization. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026: Understanding and Addressing the High Cost of a Healthy Diet. Rome: FAO; 2026. doi:10.4060/cd8306en.
World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific. A Toolkit on How to Implement Social Prescribing. Manila: World Health Organization; 2022. ISBN: 9789290619765.
UNICEF Viet Nam. Nutrition: Nourishing Every Child's Potential. UNICEF Viet Nam.
UNICEF Viet Nam. UNICEF's 2025 Impact in Viet Nam. UNICEF Viet Nam, Results for Children 2025.
Luu Thu Huong. Eating Better, Growing Stronger After the Typhoons. UNICEF Viet Nam. Published 6 August 2026.
O'Connor EA, Webber EM, Martin AM, Henninger ML, Eder ML, Lin JS. Preventive Services for Food Insecurity: Evidence Report and Systematic Review for the US Preventive Services Task Force. JAMA. 2025;333(15):1340–1351. doi:10.1001/jama.2024.22805.
US Preventive Services Task Force. Screening for Food Insecurity: US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement. JAMA. 2025;333(15):1333–1339. doi:10.1001/jama.2025.0879.
Yearley S, Ridberg R, Tatarian A, Moreno Loaeza L, Feudo S, Patel S, Duncan M, Mozaffarian D. Clinical Care and Referral Pathways for Food Security Screening in Health Care: A Scoping Review. Journal of the American Heart Association. 2026;15(11). doi:10.1161/JAHA.125.046114.
National Assembly of Viet Nam. Law No. 15/2023/QH15 on Medical Examination and Treatment. Issued 9 January 2023; effective 1 January 2024.
Ministry of Health of Viet Nam. Consolidated Document No. 16/VBHN-BYT on Nutrition Activities in Hospitals. Issued 9 December 2025.
Government of Viet Nam. Decree No. 335/2026/ND-CP on Social Assistance Policies. Issued 21 August 2026; effective 5 October 2026.
National Assembly of Viet Nam. Law No. 55/2010/QH12 on Food Safety. Issued 17 June 2010.
Government of Viet Nam. Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP detailing the implementation of certain provisions of the Law on Food Safety. Issued 2 February 2018.
Government of Viet Nam. Resolution No. 15/2026/NQ-CP suspending the application of Decree No. 46/2026/ND-CP and Resolution No. 66.13/2026/NQ-CP. Issued and effective 6 April 2026.
National Assembly of Viet Nam. Law No. 91/2025/QH15 on Personal Data Protection. Issued 26 June 2025; effective 1 January 2026.
Government of Viet Nam. Decree No. 356/2025/ND-CP detailing certain provisions and implementation measures under the Law on Personal Data Protection. Issued 31 December 2025; effective 1 January 2026.
Editorial and Legal Note
This article provides an educational and implementation-focused discussion of food insecurity, social prescribing, and potential community care navigation approaches in Viet Nam. It draws on international guidance, published research, UNICEF reporting, and relevant Vietnamese legal provisions reviewed through October 2026.
Food insecurity is discussed as constrained or uncertain access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food. It should not be interpreted as equivalent to a clinical diagnosis of malnutrition, a comprehensive assessment of dietary adequacy, or a determination of eligibility for public assistance.
The international research cited does not establish that a particular food insecurity screening, referral, or care navigation model is effective or universally applicable in Viet Nam.
Community care navigation is discussed as a potential function or service approach. It does not imply the existence of a nationally standardized or separately licensed food access navigator profession in Viet Nam.
Care navigation and social prescribing may help people connect with appropriate existing resources, but they do not replace clinical nutrition assessment and treatment, professional social work, statutory social protection decisions, food safety responsibilities, emergency response, or public measures to ensure food security.
Organizations considering collaboration should assess the actual services available, professional competence, institutional authority, eligibility arrangements, food safety requirements, lawful information sharing, supervision, and the capacity of participating providers.
The UNICEF-supported activities described in Gia Lai represent specific programs and reported implementation experiences. They should not be interpreted as evidence that similar food assistance or nutrition support services are available throughout Viet Nam.
The legal references reflect provisions reviewed through October 2026. Organizations considering implementation should verify the regulations in force at the relevant time, including subsequent amendments and transitional arrangements.
Social Prescribing Vietnam (SPVN) is a development, education, research, implementation, and collaboration platform. Publication of this article does not mean that SPVN currently operates food assistance programs, provides clinical nutrition services, determines social protection eligibility, distributes food, or directly coordinates individual referrals.