WB-funded project aims to lower malnutrition in 275 municipalities
The project’s beneficiaries are primarily pregnant mothers, lactating mothers, women of reproductive age, and children below 5 years of age.
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Daily TribuneThe project’s beneficiaries are primarily pregnant mothers, lactating mothers, women of reproductive age, and children below 5 years of age.
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(Photograph by Al Padilla for the Daily Tribune)
PALO, Leyte — The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012 has set a goal of zero malnutrition among the member states, including the Philippines, by 2030.
But while cases of malnutrition in the country have been going down in recent years, the rate of reduction in cases may not be enough to offset the gargantuan problem to meet the target.
The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund noted that 95 children die from malnutrition in the Philippines every day while 27 out of 1,000 Filipino children do not get past their fifth birthday.
Based on the World Health Organization's classification of malnutrition, the country's stunting rate of 29 percent is also "very high" and ranks fifth among countries in the East Asia and Pacific region.
The European Union, on the other hand, noted a nearly flat rate for both stunting and wasting in the Philippines for nearly 30 years — 28.8 percent of children under five years old were stunted in 2019, just slightly lower than 32 percent in 2009. The prevalence of underweight children in 2019 was 19 percent, while wasting was at six percent.
The Food and Nutrition Research Institute, an attached agency of the Department of Science and Technology, said that for the country to meet the 2030 SDG target of zero malnutrition, a 2.5-percentage point reduction in stunting per year is needed.
The World Bank's Board of Executive Directors approved on 22 June 2022 a $178.1 million loan, the last foreign loan under the Duterte administration, to support the country's efforts to combat malnutrition.
The Philippines Multisectoral Nutrition Project, jointly undertaken by the Department of Health and the Department of Social Welfare and Development, was launched to support the delivery of nutrition and health care services at the primary care and community levels to help reduce stunting.
The PMNP will be implemented in 273 municipalities from 13 regions that were identified as having high rates of poverty and malnutrition.
"This project was conceptualized to be a multisectoral project. This is a whole-of-government approach and whole-of-society approach," DoH regional director Exuperia Sabalberino said.
"We will not only be involving the health care workers, the Municipal Nutrition Action Office, and the Local Chief Executives, we will also be involving the community and the barangays," she explained.
In Eastern Visayas, 70 municipalities were identified for the project implementation — 13 municipalities were identified as key implementation areas in Eastern Samar, 22 municipalities in Leyte, 14 municipalities in Northern Samar, and 21 municipalities in Samar.
The project implementation in Eastern Visayas was launched in Eastern Samar on 13 December and in Tacloban City on 14 December.
Sabalberino said similar launch activities will also be conducted early next year in Northern Samar and Samar provinces.
In Eastern Visayas, data from the DoH regional office show that four out of 50 children under 59 months old are underweight (below normal weight relative to age), two out of 50 children are wasted (below normal weight relative to height), three out of 20 children are stunted (below normal height relative to age), and 1 out of 20 children are overweight/obese (above normal weight relative to height).
Sabalberino said the project's beneficiaries are primarily pregnant mothers, lactating mothers, women of reproductive age, and children below 5 years of age.
Households with pregnant women and children under two years will be provided with high-impact nutrition interventions including infant and young feeding, regular growth monitoring, multiple micronutrient supplements for children 6–23 months, iron-folic acid supplementation for pregnant women, vitamin A supplementation for children, dietary supplementation for nutritionally-at-risk pregnant women, and treatment of moderate and severe acute malnutrition.
