Malnutrition Among Poor Families in the Philippines
Malnutrition among poor family in Mindanao Philippines
Curbing malnutrition in North Cotabato and Maguindanao
Source: http://www.unicef.org/philippines/reallives_19053.html#.UTMVUjfJSKU
By Dr. Paul Andrew Zambrano
UNICEF Nutrition Officer for Emergencies
The nutrition of children in conflict-affected areas in Mindanao continues to be a serious concern for us at UNICEF.
Recurring emergencies due to armed conflict and natural disasters in this region – combined with challenges on appropriate infant and young child feeding practices, and high incidences of diseases – threaten the well-being of young children here.
I personally wish to thank UNICEF donors and supporters, and tell them how they help improve the lives of children in Mindanao.
Malnutrition among Filipino children
I manage a program that treats severely malnourished children in Maguindanao and North Cotabato, two conflict-affected provinces.
Malnutrition is caused by a number of factors related to health care, food intake, with underlying socioeconomic and cultural factors.
While some progress has been reached in the past decade, stunting has only decreased from 37 per cent to 32 per cent between 1990 and 2008, increasing to over 33 per cent in 2011. If not prevented, the long-term effects of stunting on a child’s development are not reversible by age two. Wasting, a deadly form of malnutrition, increased to over 7 per cent for the whole country in 2011. In ARMM, this increased to more than 10% which is a serious level. Vulnerable groups – like the children we care for here – also suffer from very high anemia rates.
In the Philippines, only 63.2 per cent of children 6-23 months old reach the minimum variety of foods for a good diet. Twenty-eight per cent of children under 5 were moderately or severely malnourished in 2003-2008. It is also estimated that malnutrition is an underlying condition in more than a third of deaths of children younger than five years. Severely wasted children have a high
Curbing malnutrition in North Cotabato and Maguindanao
Source: http://www.unicef.org/philippines/reallives_19053.html#.UTMVUjfJSKU
By Dr. Paul Andrew Zambrano
UNICEF Nutrition Officer for Emergencies
The nutrition of children in conflict-affected areas in Mindanao continues to be a serious concern for us at UNICEF.
Recurring emergencies due to armed conflict and natural disasters in this region – combined with challenges on appropriate infant and young child feeding practices, and high incidences of diseases – threaten the well-being of young children here.
I personally wish to thank UNICEF donors and supporters, and tell them how they help improve the lives of children in Mindanao.
Malnutrition among Filipino children
I manage a program that treats severely malnourished children in Maguindanao and North Cotabato, two conflict-affected provinces.
Malnutrition is caused by a number of factors related to health care, food intake, with underlying socioeconomic and cultural factors.
While some progress has been reached in the past decade, stunting has only decreased from 37 per cent to 32 per cent between 1990 and 2008, increasing to over 33 per cent in 2011. If not prevented, the long-term effects of stunting on a child’s development are not reversible by age two. Wasting, a deadly form of malnutrition, increased to over 7 per cent for the whole country in 2011. In ARMM, this increased to more than 10% which is a serious level. Vulnerable groups – like the children we care for here – also suffer from very high anemia rates.
In the Philippines, only 63.2 per cent of children 6-23 months old reach the minimum variety of foods for a good diet. Twenty-eight per cent of children under 5 were moderately or severely malnourished in 2003-2008. It is also estimated that malnutrition is an underlying condition in more than a third of deaths of children younger than five years. Severely wasted children have a high