Malnutrition rate in Central Visayas drops in 2024
A child is seen joyfully eating her meal while sitting down. | File photo from UNICEF
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The malnutrition rate in Central Visayas has dropped in 2024, according to the latest data by the National Nutrition Council (NNC-7).
The data was based on the results of the 2024 Operation Timbang (OPT) Plus, an annual activity of NNC that measures all children aged 0-59 months or below five years old.
It showed that there was a decrease both in prevalence and magnitude of stunting (putot) from 7.2 percent or 47,842 children in 2023 to 6.7 percent or 38,080 children in 2024.
Wasting (niwang) was 1.4 percent or 9,473 children in 2023 to 1.3 percent or 7,118 children. For the underweight (gaan), it decreased from 3.2 percent or 21,481 children in 2023 to 3.0 percent or 17,229 children.
Lastly, overweight was 2.11 percent or 13,970 children in 2023 to 2.0 percent or 11, 491 children in 2024.
The OPT Plus team is composed of rural health midwives, barangay nutrition scholars, barangay health workers, and other members of the nutrition committee in a barangay. They use anthropometric measurement and indices to identify the nutritional status of children using the World Health Organization Child Growth Standards.
The said results were presented during the Regional Nutrition Committee (RNC) meeting on February 21 and were shared with the media on February 28, Friday.
“One major factor which we can attribute to the decline in terms of our malnutrition statistics and all indicators, from stunting, wasting, underweight, and obesity, is because of probably the interventions that we were working for, especially with our partners the local government units, have made in terms of improving the situation,” NNC-7 Director Parolita Mission said on Friday.
The various forms of malnutrition refer to the different levels of malnutrition: stunting indicates long-term malnutrition, wasting refers to acute malnutrition, overweight and obesity are assessed by comparing weight to height or length, while underweight is determined by comparing current to the standards according to age, the NNC-7 said.
Moreover, NNC-7 considered the results a ‘slow but steady improvement in the nutritional status of children in the region’ which is a key indicator of the success of the nutrition program management.
Dr. Jaime Bernadas, director of the Department of Health in Region 7 and chairman of RNC, advised that to prevent the plateau of malnutrition rates, local nutrition committees must focus on behavior change and nutrition education for the sustainability of other programs affecting child nutrition. /clorenciana
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