The World Bank has warned that insufficient investment in child nutrition may lead to the “silent pandemic” of stunting, which may pose a threat to the country’s human and economic development.
The Philippines currently has one of the highest stunting rates in the region at 30 percent. The average for the region is only 20 percent.
In some areas in the country such as Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), Mimaropa, Bicol, and Western Visayas, stunting rates are over 40 percent.
“Improving the nutrition of all children is key to the country’s goals of investing in people and boosting human capital for a more inclusive pattern of economic growth,” Ndiamé Diop, World Bank country director for Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand said at a briefing on Tuesday.
“To achieve that, we need greater coordination among the local and national government units, as well as participation of the private sector and civil society to address this silent pandemic afflicting many poor and vulnerable families,” he added.
In a report, titled Undernutrition in the Philippines: Scale, Scope and Opportunities for Nutrition Policy and Programming, the World Bank said the primary causes of undernutrition are poor infant and young child feeding practices, ill health, low access to diverse, nutritious foods, inadequate access to health services, unhealthy household environment, and poverty.
Critical to tackling undernutrition at scale are better and higher levels of nutrition investments, as well as adequate domestic financing for nutrition-related programs for vulnerable populations, the report said.
The report also pushed for an increased direct government funding to and from local government units (LGUs) to deliver on their multisectoral local nutrition action plans to be a priority.
According to Nkosinathi Mbuya, World Bank senior nutrition specialist, East Asia and the Pacific Region and lead author of the report, there is only a narrow window of opportunity for adequate nutrition to ensure children’s optimal health and physical and cognitive development.
Mbuya said this window spans the first 1,000 days of life from the day of conception to the child’s second birthday.
“Any undernutrition occurring during this period can lead to extensive and largely irreversible damage to physical growth, brain development, and, more broadly, human capital formation,” said Mbuya.“Therefore, interventions to improve nutritional outcomes must focus on this age group and women of child-bearing age.”
The report suggested several priority recommendations, which if implemented over the next few years can bring about effective and sustainable progress in the government’s efforts to tackle the persistent challenge of undernutrition in the country.
These include securing adequate and predictable financing for nutrition-related programs to achieve nutrition goals and implementing at scale and an evidence-based package of nutrition interventions that should be made available to eligible households in high stunting municipalities.
The World Bank also said addressing the underlying determinants of undernutrition through a multi-sector effort, and ensuring that nutrition is one of the key priorities in the agendas of both the executive and legislative bodies in municipalities.
Such a comprehensive effort would require high-level government ownership and leadership at all levels, which would facilitate a whole-of-government approach to achieving nutrition results, according to the report.
On Monday, BusinessMirror reported that health diets remain elusive for many Filipinos as these prove costly even for the average Juan, according to a report by the World Bank.
The World Bank said this conclusion is based on the cost of the recommended diet (CoRD) methodology.
CoRD estimates showed a healthy diet costs P68 per day but households only spent P48 per adult per day. The report noted that this is based on 2015 data.
The World Bank recommends that the country invest in nutrition. They estimated that every dollar invested in “high-impact, nutrition-specific interventions” by the Philippines will increase adult incomes by $66, one of the highest in 34 countries.