P40 billion needed to combat malnutrition among 4Ps beneficiaries – expert

MANILA, Philippines —  An additional P40 billion fund is needed to fight food poverty, especially malnutrition, among the beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipinong Program (4Ps), according to an economic expert on Wednesday.

Speaking at a media conference, Action for Economic Reform Executive Director Filomeno Sta. Ana III underscored the importance of having sufficient funding for the 4Ps grants to curb malnutrition and the impact of inflation on families.

“We increase the 4Ps grant so that poor families have extra resources for nutrition to prevent stunting. Tapos kailangan din nating i-increase ‘yong grants para maka-adjust ‘yong current grant sa inflation (Then we need to increase grants so the current grant can adjust to inflation). And our current estimate, sa conservative estimate is we need 40 billion [pesos] for that,” said Sta. Ana III.

According to a study by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) released in June, an estimated 2 million children aged 5 and below in the Philippines are experiencing severe food poverty. The Philippines is also among the 20 countries with the worst levels of child food poverty.

The World Health Organization defined child stunting as “a child who is too short for his or her age and is the result of chronic or recurrent malnutrition.” Meanwhile, wasting, as another form of undernutrition, is the low weight-for-height among children.

READ: Unicef: 2 million Filipino children severely food poor

The Unicef report also said that more than one in five Filipino children eat unhealthy food or drink sweetened beverages.

Furthermore, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported that the 4.4 percent inflation rate in July was driven by higher price increases in housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, transport items, and food and non-alcoholic beverages.

In an interview with INQUIRER.net, Sta. Ana said that “the 4Ps grants are inadequate to address the particular problem of stunting. Additional resources for programs in stunting should be incorporated into the 4Ps so that the 40 billion [pesos] is a conservative estimate.”

According to the National Nutrition Council in the launch of the Philippine Plan of Action on Nutrition (PPAN) 2023-2028, the PPAN seeks to address all forms of malnutrition “with a particular focus on stunting and wasting, overweight and obesity, poor infant and young child feeding practices, and micronutrient deficiencies.”

Additionally, Sta. Ana III noted in the interview that the possibility of achieving the additional funding for 4Ps lies on the determination of the government, adding that “when we need such resources, we need to generate revenues.”

READ: Addt’l P5B for 4Ps arrears to help inflation recovery – Pangandaman

The 4Ps is a program by the Department of Social Welfare and Development that extends cash grants for qualified member-families. The Department of Budget and Management allotted a P106.3 billion budget for 4Ps cash aid for 2024, a nearly P4 billion increase from the P102.610 billion budget allocation in 2023.