The Philippines needs to invest more in programs that will address children’s undernutrition, to eradicate the “silent pandemic” affecting millions of poor families in the country, a report released by the World Bank yesterday said.
The World Bank said the Philippines’ rate of stunting places it fifth among countries in the East Asia and Pacific region with the highest stunting prevalence, and among the top 10 countries globally with the highest number of stunted children.
The multilateral agency added that around 30 percent of children in the Philippines under five years of age are stunted, which is considered high for its level of income and high compared to most of its neighbors.
Other countries with similar levels of income have rates of stunting averaging around 20 percent of children under five years of age, the World Bank said.
Childhood stunting is characterized by prolonged nutritional deficiency among infants and young children.
Ndiamé Diop, World Bank country director for Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand, said undernutrition is a critical issue hampering the Philippines’ human and economic development.
“Healthy children can do well in school and look forward to a prosperous future as productive members of society, while undernourished children tend to be sickly, learn less, more likely to drop out of school and their economic productivity as adults can be clipped by more 10 percent in their lifetime,” Diop said.
“Improving the nutrition of all children is key to the country’s goals of investing in people and boosting human capital for a more inclusive pattern of economic growth. To achieve that, we need greater coordination among the local and national government units, as well as participation of the private sector and civil society to address this silent pandemic afflicting many poor and vulnerable families,” he added.
The World Bank said in some regions, specifically the Bangsamoro Region in Muslim Mindanao, Mimaropa, Bicol and Western Visayas, the level of stunting exceeds 40 percent of children under five years of age.
Among the primary causes of undernutrition are poor infant and young child feeding practices; ill health; low access to diverse, nutritious foods; inadequate access to health services; unhealthy household environment; and poverty, the multilateral agency said.
According to Nkosinathi Mbuya, World Bank senior nutrition specialist, East Asia and the Pacific Region and lead author of the report, there is only a narrow window of opportunity for adequate nutrition to ensure children’s optimal health and physical and cognitive development.
It spans the first 1,000 days of life from the day of conception to the child’s second birthday, he said.
“Any undernutrition occurring during this period can lead to extensive and largely irreversible damage to physical growth, brain development, and, more broadly, human capital formation,” Mbuya said.
“Therefore, interventions to improve nutritional outcomes must focus on this age group and women of child-bearing age,” he added.
Critical to tackling undernutrition at scale are better and higher levels of nutrition investments as well as adequate domestic financing for nutrition-related programs for vulnerable populations, said the World Bank report.
Increased direct government funding to and from local government units to deliver on their multisectoral local nutrition action plans must be a priority, it added.
The report suggests several priority recommendations, which if implemented over the next few years, can bring about effective and sustainable progress in the government’s efforts to tackle the persistent challenge of undernutrition in the country.
These include securing adequate and predictable financing for nutrition-related programs to achieve nutrition goals; implementing at scale, an evidence-based package of nutrition interventions that should be made available to eligible households in high stunting municipalities; addressing the underlying determinants of undernutrition through a multi-sector effort; and ensuring that nutrition is one of the key priorities in the agendas of both the executive and legislative bodies in municipalities.
Such a comprehensive effort would require high-level government ownership and leadership at all levels which would facilitate a whole of government approach to achieving nutrition results, according to the report. – Angela Celis
