Many Filipino parents and community health and nutrition workers believe that stunting is  hereditary, meaning, when the parents are short, they also tend to be short.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said that a study on Child Growth Standards in 2007 showed that children anywhere in the world will experience the same growth potential when provided with the same optimum care. 

 The situation on stunting in the Philippines, or being too short for one’s age, indicates undernutrition in a child who is not receiving enough nutrition to grow and develop to reach his or her full potential.

 Stunting among children below five years of age is considered high in magnitude and severity based on WHO cut-off points. In fact, the Philippines ranks fifth among countries in the East Asia and Pacific Region with the highest stunting prevalence and one of 10 countries with the highest number of stunted children in the world. One in three or 30.3% of children 0-59 months old were stunted in 2018.

 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”.

 The WHO estimates that by 2025, about 127 million children under five years will be stunted assuming that current trends continue. With the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a possibility that more children will be stunted if there are no mitigating measures in place.