An education advocacy group has urged the government to tackle child undernutrition, saying that the prevalence of stunting among children hampers their learning ability.
“Children’s nutrition should go hand in hand with our efforts to educate. Lalo pa sa kalagitnaan ng pandemya na tumataas ang bilang ng nagugutom, kailangang pagtuunan ng pansin ang problema,” Philippine Educators Alliance for Community Empowerment (PEACE) Party-list President Marie Paz T. Abante said.
A World Bank report entitled “Undernutrition in the Philippines: Scale, Scope and Opportunities for Nutrition Policy and Programming,” revealed that 30 percent of Filipino children under five-years of age are stunted.
“30 percent of Filipino children under five-years of age are stunted.“
The Philippines’ stunting rate is the fifth highest among countries in the East Asia and Pacific region, and among the top 10 countries in the world.
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 World Bank also said.
“Nananawagan tayo sa pamahalaan na manguna sa paglutas ng napakalaking isyu na ito. We need a multi-stakeholder, bottom-top approach and we need to convene in the soonest possible time,” she said.
“We need a multi-stakeholder, bottom-top approach and we need to convene in the soonest possible time.”
Abante said that if left unaddressed, the Philippines could have a “lost generation.”
The country’s long-term recovery plan would be severely affected if the younger generation who would take over the reins are unhealthy, she added.
Abante also said that PEACE Party-list will include child nutrition in its agenda, and determine how its educator-members can contribute towards helping solving the problem of child underdevelopment.
