Cebu has the most number of obese children in Central Visayas with 1.62 percent of its children aged zero to five years old overweight, last year’s report of the National Nutrition Council (NNC) showed.
“The possible reason behind this is that children today are becoming more and more stagnant. They are playing outside less and less. The only body parts they are exercising are their fingers. Magsige na lang sila og tuplok-tuplok sa ilang mga gadgets (They often fiddle with their gadgets),” NNC-7 regional nutrition program coordinator Parolita Mission said.
Cebu is followed by Siquijor with 1.38 percent, Negros Oriental at 0.87 percent, and Bohol at 0.48 percent.
Three towns in Cebu ranked in the top 10 in Region 7 for the most number of undernourished children.
Mission said an undernourished child doesn’t have the appropriate height and weight for his or her age.
Weigh-in
Madridejos town in Bantayan Island, northern Cebu, landed in the seventh spot with 12.08 percent of its children undernourished.
Tuburan takes fifth place with 12.86 percent while Malabuyoc takes the highest spot among the three at 4th place with 13.06 percent.
The figures are the result of Operation Timbang, the NNC’s annual weigh-in program to measure the nutritional status of children across the country.
Mission said this year’s report is still being finalized.
As part of the celebration of National Children’s Month this October, Mission said the NNC is pushing for awareness on the “Power of the First 1,000 Days.”
Based on an infographic posted on www.thousanddays.org, “the right nutrition in the 1,000 days between a woman’s pregnancy and her child’s second birthday builds the foundation for a child’s ability to grow, learn and thrive.”
Regional Director Jaime Bernadas of the Department of Health (DOH-7) said the community’s role is very important in ensuring the nutrition of children.
He said parents should take advantage of all government programs laid out for them and their children such as free immunization, vitamin injection and deworming, among others.
“The government invested in this. It’s our money so we should use it,” he said.