This July, the National Nutrition Council leads the Philippines in observing its 46th Nutrition Month campaign. With the theme, “Batang Pinoy, SANA TALL… Iwas stunting, SAMA ALL! Iwas ALL din sa COVID-19”, this year’s celebration is on catalyzing actions to address child stunting. Specifically, this year’s campaign seeks to raise awareness among Filipinos on the impact of stunting, stimulate national and local discourse on stunting, and generate commitment among various stakeholders to scale-up preventive efforts. Furthermore, in consideration of the ongoing pandemic, the said campaign also seeks to address the challenges in nutrition initiatives during this time of community quarantines.
While July is designated as Nutrition Month, actions to achieve the objectives are expected to be sustained throughout the year.
Child stunting in the Philippines
Stunting is a world-wide crisis. According to the WHO, childhood stunting is “one of the most significant impediments to human development, globally affecting approximately 162 million children under the age of 5 years. It is largely an irreversible outcome of inadequate nutrition and repeated bouts of infection during the first 1000 days of a child’s life”. Should current trends continue, the WHO estimates that about 127 million children under five years will be stunted by 2025. If the COVID-19 pandemic is to be factored in, there is a possibility that more children will be stunted if no mitigating measures are implemented.
In the Philippines, great progress in lowering child stunting has been made over the years. Despite this fact, stunting remains to be one of the biggest obstacles to the country’s development endeavors. In fact, studies reveal that the Philippines ranks fifth among countries in the East Asia and Pacific Region with the highest stunting prevalence and among the top 10 countries with the highest number of stunted children in the world.
In the Cordillera Administrative region, the prevalence of stunting among underfive children based on the 2019 Operation Timbang Plus is at 10.18 %. The stunting prevalence in CAR was gradually decreasing for the past three years with a prevalence of 12.07% in 2017.
So, what is the implication of all these? For better understanding, the following questions must be answered:
What is stunting?
Aside from that, stunting is also one of the leading indicators of malnutrition and is used as a measure to track and evaluate progress in sustainable development endeavors where nutrition is one of the key factors or main thrusts.
What are the consequences of stunting?
Stunting not only affects a child’s health but also impairs their mental and physical development. As a result, children who suffer from stunting are less likely to achieve their full physical, intellectual, and economic potentials as adults:
- Children who suffer from stunting are more likely to suffer poor health and mental development, making them at risk of disease and diet related conditions such as coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension, and diabetes.
- Stunting also impacts behavioral development which makes affected children to be more apathetic, display less exploratory behavior, have altered physiological arousal. This puts them at higher risk of anxiety, depression, and lower self-esteem than non-stunted children. But it still does not end there.
- In various reports, stunted children are shown to have poor academic performance and have higher cases of delayed enrollment, higher absenteeism, and repetition of grades.
- As adults, stunted children earn 20 percent less than their non-stunted counterparts.
In contrast:
- Children who are less affected by stunting in their early years have higher test scores on cognitive assessments and activity level.
- Well-nourished children are 33 percent more likely to escape poverty.
The consequences of stunting do not end there. Apart from the affected individual, stunting also puts heavy burden on the economy and on society. Research shows that:
- Across countries, it is estimated that stunting reduces income per capita by 7 percent. Recent studies suggest that the total costs of childhood undernutrition in the Philippines is in the range of 1.5 to 3% of GDP per year.
- A one percent loss in adult height due to stunting is estimated to lead to a 1.4 percent loss in economic productivity.
- All forms of malnutrition cost the global economy an estimated $3.5 trillion per year, or $500 per individual.
How can stunting be prevented?
There may be no easy solutions to stunting but it can be done. To do that, the first 1,000 days of life- the time between a mother’s pregnancy and her child’s second birthday — is critical.
The first 1000 days of life is when linear growth is most responsive. As such, it presents a window of opportunity to ensure the healthy development and growth of the child. However, it is also during this time that stunting has a higher chance of occurrence. To prevent that from happening, interventions must be focused during this period.
For the first 1000 days of life, pregnant women should have access to sufficient nutrition and health services to improve birth outcomes. Children must also have access to a variety of foods especially those that are rich in protein such as meat, fish, poultry, and eggs. Furthermore, it is also important to make sure households have access to clean drinking water supply and sanitation and wastewater systems.
Aside from that, addressing stunting also requires the continuous communication, cooperation, and action of all stakeholders. For efforts to be effective, each member must do his/herpart.
References:
Nutrition Month Talking Points 2020
https://www.who.int/nutgrowthdb/about/introduction/en/index2.html
