Quezon City –The focus of this year’s 46th Nutrition Month is to scale up nutrition action by raising awareness and commitment on how to prevent and reduce stunting among Filipino families, communities and various stakeholders. The theme for the month’s celebration is, “Batang Pinoy, SANA TALL… Iwas stunting, SAMA ALL! Iwas ALL din sa COVID-19”.
This year’s theme aims to stimulate national and local discourse, change mindsets and behaviors towards stunting and its causes, and provide evidence-based and multi-sectoral solutions for greater advancements in interventions. Everyone is encouraged to play their unique role in the battle against stunting. It can be prevented with proper knowledge and through combined efforts of the child’s mother and other family members, through the community, the government and other sectors.
Although stunting is a serious public health problem, interventions such as breastfeeding, appropriate complementary feeding practices (and other nutrition-related interventions which supports the child’s first 1000 days) can significantly reverse the process. Now that the COVID-19 pandemic is threatening the health of many, nutrition action is more crucial than ever for reducing and preventing stunting by building immunity, protecting against illness and infection and supporting recovery.
According to the WHO Child Growth Standards, stunting means being short for one’s age. The term is still misunderstood by many Filipinos. Many believe that stunting is caused by heredity, genetics and ethnicity, but is actually a result of chronic deprivation of proper nutrition from conception until 2 years old or within the child’s first 1000 days. Therefore, with good nutrition, Filipino children can have the potential to be healthier, more productive and grow as tall as the children from other countries.
There are other long-term consequences of stunting. One’s intellectual capacity is reduced which may lead to poor school performance. Another is the possibility of earning smaller income. According to Grantham-McGregor, Cheung, Cueto and team in 2007, stunted children who become adults earn 20 percent less than their non-stunted counterparts and are more prone to developing non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and stroke.
Stunting is also one of the most significant impediments to human development. There are studies which show that stunting has an impact in economic productivity. The total cost of childhood undernutrition in the Philippines affects 1.5 to 3% of the annual Gross Domestic Product or GDP.
The capacity to implement health and nutrition programs at scale to break the cycle of stunting requires effective coordinated efforts, passion and commitment. We can always demonstrate that we can meet the challenges and move forward together in achieving health and productivity for all.
Source: 2020 NM Talking Points and Powerpoint Presentation
By: Mary Emerene P. Pingol
