Duterte urged: Save the children

CAMPAIGN AGAINST STUNTING A photo exhibit organized by Save the Children at the launch of a campaign
seeks to raise public awareness of stunting among Filipino children. Stunting in the country has worsened despite
high economic growth. EDWIN BACASMAS

An international child rights group has urged President-elect Rodrigo Duterte to take action on the worsening malnutrition and child hunger in the country, as the National Nutrition Month in July approached.

Save the Children on Tuesday made the call at the launch of a new video advertisement highlighting the effects of stunting on a child’s growth.

The two-minute video advertisement dubbed “Reach” showed a Filipino child’s struggle and difficulty to reach high objects.

Scheduled to be shown in Metro Manila cinemas this July to raise awareness on the issue, the video focused on chronic malnutrition among Filipino children and on the necessity for government support to confront the matter.

It was also released along with a photo exhibit that showed how impoverished Filipino families deal with malnutrition among the young.

An empty plate symbolizing the 1.5 million Filipino children, who have nothing to eat every day, was one of the highlights of Save the Children’s photo exhibit.

Some kids eat only rice with noodles or sardines, according to the nonprofit organization.

For a minimum wage earner, a P151 daily allocation is the maximum amount one can set aside to feed a family of five.

Ideally, Save the Children said a P459 budget for food would give a child a complete meal for the entire day.

Lack of income and food security, and the presence of violence and corruption in the community are among the major causes of the increasing malnutrition rate in the country.

“We have plenty of laws and guidelines for health and malnutrition, but we also have plenty of data proving we’re not achieving targets,” said Dr. Anthony Calibo,  national program manager of the Department of Health’s Integrated Management of Childhood Illness.

“Nutrition has taken a backseat,” Calibo said.

Worst in a decade

Overall malnutrition or stunting rate for Filipinos aged at least 2 years old was at its worst in the last 10 years at 26.2 percent in 2015, the latest National Nutrition Survey showed.

Data from the Food and Nutrition Research Institute also showed that one in every two children in the poorest quantiles was stunted, or whose height was below the World Health Organization reference for his or her age.

Despite high economic growth, the stunting rate also increased from 30.3 percent in 2013 to 33.5 percent in 2015 among those under 5 years old.

Dr. Amado Parawan, Save the Children Health and Nutrition advisor, said the stunting problem would reflect on a weak labor force in the future.

The “Lahat Dapat” campaign, therefore, aimed to call on stakeholders to step up and support efforts to tackle the problem by scaling up cost-effective and affordable nutrition interventions, addressing the status of the community-based health and nutrition front-liners, ensuring budget allocation for health and nutrition programs, and supporting the “First 1,000 Days Bill” to be refiled in the next Congress.

Political will

Calibo said many people were hopeful that things might change in terms of the health and nutrition picture in the country under the new administration since President-elect Duterte had shown political will in addressing malnutrition and child hunger during his term as mayor of Davao City.

The manager of the health department’s integrated management of childhood illness noted that in 2014, Davao City under Duterte became the country’s first city to sign and implement an executive order on the Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition, which has four components—community outreach, out-patient therapeutic program, inpatient therapeutic program and treatment of acute malnutrition through supplementary feeding program.

Parawan said Save the Children was hoping that hunger and malnutrition could be prioritized by the national government the way the group was supported by the local government units in Davao City.

“Hopefully, incoming President Duterte can be a champion of it,” he said.

Michael Rooijackers, Save the Children deputy country director,  said the organization was positive that the next administration would continue “the battle against malnutrition” and include it among its priorities.

Work with Church

Despite  Duterte’s attacks against the Catholic Church, a priest urged the incoming leader to work with the Church in fighting poverty.

Fr. Anton Pascual, executive director of Caritas Manila, said Duterte and the Church could cooperate to reduce the poverty rate in the country to single-digit figures by the end of Duterte’s term.

“We hope that the new administration responds proactively to this challenge of poverty reduction through education and job generation in the provinces, reducing the poverty to single-digit figures in six years,” he said.

The call came amid Duterte’s attack against the Church, slamming it as a hypocritical institution.

The tough-talking Duterte also said he would aggressively promote birth control at the risk of going against the Church. Last year, he cursed Pope Francis for causing traffic jams during his five-day visit.

Pascual pointed out that the last five Presidents, including outgoing President Aquino, barely made a dent in reducing poverty in the country.

The Philippines has a 26-percent poverty rate in the last 30 years, he said.

“Both the Duterte administration and Caritas Manila prioritize Mindanao as an area of massive social development,” he noted. With a report from  Julie M. Aurelio