Under nutrition of Philippine children

[Mike J]

We work with youth and see quite of few of these kids who seem quite small even by Philippine standards.  Appears to be primarily a result of poverty and we are also seeing more signs of obesity among the more affluent families.  It is disheartening to read; The World Bank noted that the past 30 years saw “almost no improvements in the prevalence of undernutrition in the Philippines.” 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1446710/silent-pandemic-stalks-filipino-children

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is suffering from a “silent pandemic” — childhood stunting as a result of undernutrition, according to the World Bank.

In a report titled “Undernutrition in the Philippines: Scale, Scope, and Opportunities for Nutrition Policy and Programming,” the World Bank found that in 2019, 29 percent of Filipino children age 5 or younger, or one of every three of these children, had stunted growth—which meant they were smaller in height compared with healthier children of the same age.

Across the East Asia and Pacific region, the Philippines had the fifth-highest prevalence of stunting. Worldwide, the country was in the top 10.

“The stunting prevalence of children in the Philippines is of ‘very high’ public health significance,” said the report which was posted on the World Bank’s website on Tuesday.

The report pointed out further, “There are regions with levels of stunting that exceed 40 percent of the population. In Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), 45 percent of children below 5 are stunted; in Mimaropa, 41 percent; Bicol Region, it is 40 percent; Western Visayas, 40 percent; and in Soccsksargen, 40 percent.”

Undernutrition
The World Bank blamed stunting mainly on micronutrient undernutrition, which affected infants, children and even pregnant women.

“The persistence of very high levels of childhood undernutrition, despite decades of economic growth and poverty reduction, could lead to a staggering loss of the country’s human and economic potential,” the international lender said.

“A Filipino child with optimal nutrition will have greater cognitive development, stay in school longer, learn more in school, and have a brighter future as an adult, while undernutrition robs other children of their chance to succeed,” the World Bank said further.

The organization also found 19 percent of Filipino children in 2019 to be underweight, while 6 percent of those age 5 and below were considered “wasted”—that is, they had significant weight loss compared to their height, mainly due to starvation or disease.

“When viewed through the lens of the World Bank’s Human Capital Index (HCI), the country’s… HCI score of 0.52 predicts that the future productivity of children born today will be 48 percent below what they might achieve if they were to enjoy complete education and full health,” the report said.

The World Bank said this index “measures the amount of human capital that a child born today can expect to attain by age 18, given the risks of poor health and poor education that prevail in [his or her] country.”

‘Almost no improvements’
The World Bank noted that the past 30 years saw “almost no improvements in the prevalence of undernutrition in the Philippines.”

It further pointed out the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the sharp rise of hunger in the country, citing surveys by the Social Weather Stations.

The World Bank said the Philippines should “build a strong and more coordinated partnership for nutrition [by strengthening] the National Nutrition Council [including its] supervisory and oversight capacities….”

The World Bank also recommended securing adequate domestic funding for nutrition-related programs.

The organization is due to lend the Philippines $200 million to address child stunting in the country. INQ

 

 

[Shady]

2 hours ago, Mike J said:

The World Bank said the Philippines should

When did the people of the Philippines elect "The World Bank" to make decisions for them, I must have missed that...

 

 

[Peaceful John]

But don't forget.......If you don't get the vaccine, you will die!!!!! said Duterte, but food for the children and poor.......we'll work on it after the election. 

[Shady]

13 hours ago, Mike J said:

The World Bank said the Philippines should

 

 

Mike why are you censoring and deleting my posts again?

If you want to change something, edit your title to read "World Bank claims", instead of posting like it's somehow fact. 

Terrible moderation going on here.

[Jollygoodfellow]

5 hours ago, Shady said:

Terrible moderation going on here.

Post are not deleted by moderators as they can not delete, only hide until I review it. You started a topic in the chatterbox, I will answer there. PS. I allowed your post.

[Mike J]

9 hours ago, Shady said:

Mike why are you censoring and deleting my posts again?

If you want to change something, edit your title to read "World Bank claims", instead of posting like it's somehow fact. 

Terrible moderation going on here.

It was not me who censored and/or deleted that post  Fact. 

The title of the topic is perfectly fine and will not be changed because poor nutrition for children is still a very common problem here.   Fact not an opinion. 

Terrible moderation going on here.  Opinion not a fact. 

 

[Shady]

1 hour ago, Mike J said:

The title of the topic is perfectly fine and will not be changed

Fact: The article you posted is based entirely on World Bank claims (followed up by the World Bank deciding what the Philippines should do).

That wasn't mentioned by the Filipino journalist in the title, but I think we should have higher standards here and focus more on facts and less on clickbait.

Title should definitely be changed, if not by you then by someone who understands the World Bank has their own agenda, one not necessarily based on...facts.

 

 

[Mike J]

48 minutes ago, Shady said:

Fact: The article you posted is based entirely on World Bank claims (followed up by the World Bank deciding what the Philippines should do).

That wasn't mentioned by the Filipino journalist in the title, but I think we should have higher standards here and focus more on facts and less on clickbait.

Title should definitely be changed, if not by you then by someone who understands the World Bank has their own agenda, one not necessarily based on...facts.

 

 

Below is just a sample of what various agencies have to say about nutrition in the Philippines.   If you take the time to read them you will find that some are actually from the Philippine government.  I have not posted the actual articles do to the length and number of articles.  This is actually a violation of forum policy, but I hope the forum manager will make an exception. 

By the way - The title will "definitely" not be changed.  

 

https://www.unicef.org/philippines/press-releases/unicef-many-children-and-adolescents-philippines-are-not-growing-healthily#:~:text=“The undernutrition facts in the,by the age of 2.&text=And stunting rates remain at,3 and 4 years old.

http://www.fao.org/ag/agn/nutrition/phl_en.stm

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12264685/  (this is an older article)

https://borgenproject.org/tag/malnutrition-in-the-philippines/

https://globalnutritionreport.org/resources/nutrition-profiles/asia/south-eastern-asia/philippines/

https://mb.com.ph/2020/07/27/malnutrition-in-the-philippines-is-worse-than-pandemic/

https://globalnutritionreport.org/resources/nutrition-profiles/asia/south-eastern-asia/philippines/

https://www.unicef.org/philippines/press-releases/addressing-stunting-and-malnutrition-should-go-beyond-nutrition-month-celebration

https://www.statista.com/statistics/678193/philippines-prevalence-of-undernourishment/

[Shady]

On 6/17/2021 at 8:16 AM, Mike J said:

Below is just a sample of what various agencies have to say about nutrition in the Philippines.

Go make a thread about it

[Snowy79]

I've done few charity missions helping the Mangyan of Oriental Mindoro and one thing the kids suffer from is worms that enter their bodies through small cuts usually on their feet. They have as good as diet as they can from the mountains and bartering crops for meat but apparently the worms get a fair share of the nutrients. On average most kids are stunted in growth the equivilent of 3 yrs. Adults are also smaller than the average Filipino.