Silent pandemic

Last week, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) rightly called the nation’s attention to a “silent pandemic” that has been plaguing poor and vulnerable Filipinos for far too long: childhood stunting, one of the world’s most serious and yet least-addressed problems that the government fervently hopes the private sector can help solve.

Characterized by prolonged nutritional deficiency among infants and young children, leaving them small for their age, stunting is a particularly pressing issue in the Philippines, with 29 percent or one in three children below five years old suffering from stunting, according to the 2021 World Bank report. The 2019 Expanded National Nutrition Survey of the DOST-Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI) further found out that about three of every 10 children from Cebu province are stunted, thus undermining their future potential.This earned for the Philippines the unwanted distinction of being among the top 10 countries with the highest number of stunted children. The pervasive problem is even more pronounced in areas such as the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Mimaropa, Bicol, and Western Visayas, where the alarming level of stunting exceeds 40 percent of children under five years old.

According to the DOST, at least P6.5 billion is needed to help 3.64 million stunted children aged six months to three years old. Unfortunately, the food production facilities of the DOST-FNRI could only support a measly 2.04 percent of the requirement, thus the urgent appeal for private sector support to help fill the enormous funding gap.

“The government cannot shoulder this responsibility [of addressing the problem in malnutrition] alone,” stressed Dr. Rowena Cristina Guevara, DOST undersecretary for research and development, “To help resolve the country’s problem with the 3.64 million malnourished children, we need the support of civil society and private sector.”

Among the primary causes of malnutrition leading to stunting are poor infant and young child feeding practices, low access to diverse, nutritious foods, inadequate access to health services, and poverty, according to the World Bank in its 2021 study.

To help address this, DOST has formulated a science-based Malnutrition Reduction Program that it hopes the private sector can adopt as their flagship corporate social responsibility project.

Assistance packages range from P120,000, enough to feed 50 children for 120 days using DOST-FNRI developed food products to P2.25 million, for the provision of equipment needed to produce high-nutrition foods, such as the rice-mongo blends.

Private companies can also help by providing land or buildings where these production facilities can be built or vehicles to complement the production and bring these especially developed food products closer to the children in dire need of help, as the lifelong consequences of stunting cannot be overstated.

According to Ndiamé Diop, World Bank country director for Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand, undernutrition is “a critical issue” hampering the country’s human and economic development.

“Undernourished children tend to be sickly, learn less, more likely to drop out of school and their economic productivity as adults can be clipped by more than 10 percent in their lifetime,” said Diop, “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.”

And there is no time to wait as there is “only a narrow window of opportunity” for adequate nutrition to ensure children’s optimal health and physical and cognitive development, spanning the first 1,000 days of life from 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,” emphasized Nkosinathi Mbuya, World Bank senior nutrition specialist and lead author of the disconcerting report on the Philippines.

Since the DOST-FNRI’s anti-malnutrition program was rolled out in 2011, some progress has undoubtedly been made with food processing facilities in operation in 33 provinces across the country with some more to be established soon in isolated and disadvantaged areas including Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

However, the stubbornly high stunting prevalence shows that more needs to be done and fast, and this presents an opportunity for the next government to make an immediate positive impact by harnessing government resources and enjoining all levels of government, as well as civil society and the private sector, to work together to dramatically reduce the level of stunting. Failure on this is not an option for the country’s future depends on it.