NOT all children in the Philippines are flourishing in terms of health, their environment and futures, according to a landmark report released by the World Health Organization (WHO), Unicef and The Lancet.
In the global index of the report, titled “A Future for the World’s Children?” the Philippines ranked 110th out of 180 countries with a “flourishing” score of 0.56. This almost made the country a laggard in the Asean-5.
Singapore ranked the highest in the group at 12th overall with a score of 0.92; Malaysia, 44th with 0.81; Vietnam, 58th with 0.75; and Thailand, 64th with 0.75. Indonesia lagged in the group by ranking 117th with a score of 0.54.
“Despite improvements in child and adolescent health over the past 20 years, progress has stalled, and is set to reverse,” said former Prime Minister of New Zealand and Cochairman of the Commission Helen Clark.
“Countries need to overhaul their approach to child and adolescent health, to ensure that we not only look after our children today but protect the world they will inherit in the future,” she added.
Based on the report, an overall score close to zero indicates very poor, with 0.25 indicating poor; 0.50, neither poor nor adequate; 0.75, adequate; and 1, good flourishing.
Flourishing, the Commission explained, is the geometric mean of “surviving and thriving.” This is based on indicators culled from the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Surviving takes into consideration maternal survival; survival in children younger than five years old; suicide; access to maternal and child health services; basic hygiene and sanitation; and lack of extreme poverty.
Thriving, the report stated, focused on educational achievement; growth and nutrition; reproductive freedom; and protection from violence.
The Philippines received a score of 0.55 in surviving and a score of 0.58 in thriving. The country, based on government reports, still grapples with stunting, which affects a third of children nationwide.
The Commission on Population and Development (Popcom) also stated that teenage pregnancy is another problem where 1.2 million teenagers started families in the last 10 years.
Popcom Executive Director Juan Antonio Perez III said women who got pregnant in their adolescent years tend to receive salaries that are at least six times lower than their peers who finished their education and had no children as adolescents.
“It has been estimated that around 250 million children under five years old in low- and middle-income countries are at risk of not reaching their developmental potential, based on proxy measures of stunting and poverty. But of even greater concern, every child worldwide now faces existential threats from climate change and commercial pressures,” Clark said.
Overall, the report stated the health, and future, of every child and adolescent worldwide is under immediate threat from ecological degradation, climate change and exploitative marketing practices that push heavily processed fast food, sugary drinks, alcohol and tobacco at children.
The index shows that children in Norway, the Republic of Korea and the Netherlands have the best chance at survival and well-being, while children in Central African Republic, Chad, Somalia, Niger and Mali face the worst odds.
However, when authors took per-capita carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions into account, the top countries trail behind—Norway ranked 156th; the Republic of Korea, 166th; and the Netherlands, 160th.
Each of the three emits 210 percent more CO2 per capita than their 2030 target. Unicef said the United States, Australia and Saudi Arabia are among the 10 worst emitters.
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