THE national government will spend P320 million to conduct the 2019 Expanded National Nutrition Survey (ENNS), according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The survey aims to collect information on the nutritional status of Filipinos, particularly children, on the prevalence of noncommunicable disease risk factors and on food consumption and waste among individuals and households.
The PSA said this updated information will be used for planning nutrition and development programs. The survey will run from January to December next year the results of which are expected to be released in 2020.
The 2019 ENNS is Phase II of the three-year project of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)-Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI), according to the PSA.
The data on household and per capita food consumption as well as basis for regional menus, poverty calculation, Recommended Energy and Nutrient Intakes (Reni), desirable dietary patterns and food production targets.
The results will be used as inputs in the Medium Term Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition, the Philippine Development Plan and various poverty alleviation programs.
The PSA said the results will also be used in food fortification and supplementation programs, as well as the Philippine coalition for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases.
Based on the data from the 8th National Nutrition Survey released in 2013, there were improvements in the prevalence of smoking and stunting as well as anemia.
However, nutrition problems such as childhood underweight, stunting and wasting, as well as growing problems like adult overweight and obesity, have persisted.
The data also provided information on hypertension and elevated blood glucose among pregnant and lactating women which become risk factors for hypertension and diabetes for women later in life.
These results have also included wealth indices and regional distributions to highlight disparities in prevalence estimates for almost all nutrition-related outcomes.