Read this in The Manila Times digital edition.
JULY is our country's National Nutrition Month, and the National Nutrition Council (NNC), the lead government agency that is responsible for our nutritional well-being, has been coordinating this celebration for the past 49 years. Last year, the NNC's theme for this activity focused on finding solutions for nutrition in the new normal. This year, the NNC is promoting the theme "Healthy diet gawing affordable for all (Making healthy diet affordable for all)." This is related to the 2023-2028 Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition's overall desired outcome, i.e., the "reduction of all forms of malnutrition."
High malnutrition rates are a continuing problem in our archipelago. The Department of Health announced in March that stunting (when a child does not grow to the proper height for his or her age) among children under 2 years old has not changed or has plateaued at 21.6 percent in the past decade. Among the same age category of children, 12.3 percent are underweight, while 7.2 percent are wasted (low weight for height). Poverty is the major factor linked to malnutrition. In 2015, the poverty incidence of the Philippine population was 23.5 percent, and this dropped to 16.7 percent in 2018, then rose to 18.1 percent in 2021, which is equivalent to around 20 million Filipinos. Malnutrition and poverty incidence rates are highest in Mindanao, especially in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
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