Save the Children: Some Pinoys short due to stunting, malnutrition

A new report released by Save the Children Philippines on Thursday suggests that for at least a portion of the Filipino population, short height might not just be due to genetics but also to stunting and malnutrition.

"The assumption has always been that Filipinos are just genetically short, but we what we actually see now are generations of stunted and malnourished children," said Save the Children’s Health and Nutrition advisor Dr. Amado Parawan in a statement provided by the organization. "Because ‘shortness’ is considered a racial trait, it is not seen as a serious concern. [But] stunting is more than just being short; it impacts children’s future because it hinders physical and mental growth."

In its report "Sizing Up: The Stunting and Child Malnutrition Problem in the Philippines," Save the Children cites data from the 2013 National Nutrition Survey that indicates the rate of stunting (having a low height for one's age) among Filipino children has gone down 9% in 2013 from 1993, but still hovers at 30%. This means that one in three Filipino kids suffers from stunted growth, which indicates chronic malnutrition.

Children facing greater risk of malnutrition and stunting are those from poorer households, both in rural and urban areas, and those in conflict zones and disaster-prone areas.

The report notes that nutrition is particularly crucial during the child's first 1,000 days—from the mother’s pregnancy up to the child’s second birthday—to prevent stunting and wasting (low weight for height). According to the group, children who did not achieve the optimum growth within this period are at higher risk of impaired cognitive development

Save the Children Philippines country director Ned Olney said that battling stunting and malnutrition is also not just a matter of children's health but also of national development and progress.

"Malnutrition is undermining children’s development, economic growth and people’s capacity to get their way out of poverty," he said. "By tackling child malnutrition alongside poverty and food security, we are helping save and tap full potentials of millions of Filipino children."

No Child Left Behind

Also on Thursday, Save the Children Philippines launched Lahat Dapat, its largest campaign against hunger and malnutrition to date.

Lahat Dapat will urge the government and the public to increase their efforts to reduce public malnutrition and to reach the country's Millennium Development Goals.

The campaign calls for:

• Nutrition first - the prioritization of nutrition as a key development goal and as the centerpiece in the upcoming campaign for the 2016 elections.
• A budget for programs - allocations in the budget for "equitable nutrition policies and programs" that address the immediate, underlying and basic causes of malnutrition."
• Cutting down on child mortality - the stepping up of "high-impact nutrition interventions" to prevent deaths of millions of children in the Philippines such as promotion of exclusive breastfeeding, appropriate complementary feeding, vitamin A and iron supplementation, treatment of acute malnutrition and maternal nutrition.
• Investing in LGUs - funding community- and facility-based health and nutrition service providers, including providing regular and standard compensation for frontline nutrition health workers on the municipal and barangay levels.
• Support for the First 1000 Days Bill

Save the Children Philippines is the local arm of the international non-government organization Save the Children movement. It has been working in the country for over thirty years.

"Hunger and malnutrition is everyone’s business. With a strong political will and public support, we can ensure that no child suffers malnutrition’s irreversible impact," the group said in a statement. — BM, GMA News

Go here for more information about Save the Children's Lahat Dapat Campaign.