4 M Pinoy kids stunted due to malnutrition

MANILA, Philippines - Close to four million children in the Philippines are either stunted or wasted despite the multimillion-peso government programs to curb the high incidence of malnutrition.

The Philippines is lagging behind other poor countries in addressing malnutrition, according to Lawrence Haddad, nutrition expert and lead author of the 2015 Global Nutrition Report (GNR).

The GNR is a comprehensive scorecard of both global and country progress on nutrition.

The 2015 GNR shows that the Philippines has recorded a 30 percent malnutrition rate, much higher than that of Cambodia, Ghana, Kenya and other poor countries.

“The Philippines posted a decline in stunting incidence, but the reduction is still slow and must be sustained,” Haddad said.

He underscored the need for the government to address malnutrition, which caused 45 percent of deaths among Filipino children under five years.