Malnutrition costs the Philippines about $8.5 billion (about P497,649,338 billion annually), or nearly three percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), according to a report by Nutrition International.

The report also revealed that the Philippines faces a significant malnutrition crisis, with 3.4 million children under five suffering from stunting.

Stunting alone costs the country $8.1 billion per year, placing the Philippines as having the sixth-highest prevalence in East Asia and the Pacific and the 36th highest globally (out of 175 countries).

However, according to the report, the prevalence of stunting in children under five in the Philippines has decreased from 31.9 percent in 2012 to 28.8 percent.

Each year, there are 689,357 new cases of stunting in the Philippines, with a total of 3,446,785 children under five who are stunted.

Stunting, or being too short for one’s age, is defined as a height that is more than two standard deviations below the World Health Organization (WHO) child growth standards median.

It is a largely irreversible outcome of inadequate nutrition and repeated bouts of infection during the first 1,000 days.

On average, 10.8 IQ points and 1.5 school years are lost per case of stunting, resulting in long-term productivity losses.

Moreover, the country also holds the highest prevalence of low birth weight in East Asia and the Pacific and ranks fifth globally (out of 200 countries), resulting in an additional $3.3 billion annual loss.

Further, anemia affects nearly 1.5 million children aged six months to five years old.

"The impacts of poor nutrition are wide-ranging and serious. When a population is undernourished, they are more vulnerable to preventable infections and diseases, leading to increased spending on healthcare and treatment," the report read.

"Persistent malnutrition in at-risk populations, including infants, young children, and pregnant women, can also be life-threatening. Malnutrition impacts school performance and educational attainment, in turn affecting workforce capabilities and performance. Nutrition is foundational for human capital and economic development," it further read.

Cost of Inaction tool

With that, the Philippine government has taken commendable steps to address the malnutrition burden with the launch of the Philippines Plan of Action for Nutrition 2023 – 2028, a roadmap of nutrition interventions to address malnutrition in the country currently under the stewardship of the National Nutrition Council (NNC).

Last year, the NNC adopted the Cost of Inaction tool to strengthen the country’s ability to assess the financial impact of malnutrition, develop strategic and data-driven interventions to reduce its prevalence and long-term consequences, and call for investments in key priority areas.

Through the development of an online, user-friendly Cost of Inaction tool, Nutrition International has sought to support policymakers as they weigh their options.

"The tool provides an analysis of the costs of 'inaction' — of allowing limited to no progress on key indicators of undernutrition to be made, and how doing so affects countries’ income in both the immediate and long term," Nutrition International explained.

"The model also estimates anticipated economic gains that can be expected from progress on these indicators. In short, the new tool demonstrates that inaction on malnutrition comes at a significant price — one that can be averted through investments in proven, low-cost, high-impact nutrition interventions," the Canada-based organization added.

Developed in 2023 by Nutrition International in partnership with Limestone Analytics with funding from the Government of Canada, the Cost of Inaction Tool estimates the health and economic consequences of stunting, low birth weight, and anemia.

For each nutritional deficiency, the tool calculates health and human capital impacts at current prevalence rates, and the current and future economic costs due to mortality and productivity losses.

The 30-year-old non-profit agency has focused on delivering low-cost, high-impact nutrition interventions to needy people while working alongside governments in more than 60 countries, primarily in Asia and Africa, as an expert ally.

In the Philippines, Nutrition International has been a key ally of the Government of the Philippines in implementing health and nutrition initiatives since 2016.

In close coordination with the Department of Health, the NNC, and other development partners, Nutrition International enhances, accelerates, and expands nutrition interventions to strengthen the country’s health and nutrition policies and programs.