Malnutrition In The Philippines

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Researchers: Fatima Mendoza & Therese Ma. Dulce Noriega General Topic: Nutrition Narrowed Topic: Effects of malnutrition to children aged 0-5 situated in NCR. Thesis Statement: There are several effects of malnutrition affecting children aged 0-5 situated in the Philippines because of poor economic status that prohibits parents to provide enough. Literature Review Nowadays, the Philippines has been facing pressing issues that may hinder its further development. Among them is malnutrition, most especially to children at an early age, which is defined as a condition in which the body receives inadequate nutrients for proper function which ranges from mild to severe (“Definition of Malnutrition,” 2016). Once a child is diagnosed with malnutrition,…show more content…
Chronic malnutrition resembles stunting which is characterized by shortness and late brain development leading to a very low height for weight. On the other hand, acute malnutrition is associated with wasting corresponding to the thinness of an individual with a very low weight for height. Young Filipinos are not spared from this life-threatening condition that comes with the decreasing condition of the economy and the capability of laborers to provide for their family. Based on Laguna (n.d.), “stunting is defined as the percentage of children under 5 years old whose height for age is below -2 standard deviation (moderate and severe stunting) and -3 standard deviations (severe stunting) from the median. Wasting, on the other hand, is defined as the percentage of children whose weight for height is below -2 standard deviation (moderate and severe wasting) and -3 standard deviation (severe wasting) from the median. The Philippines is one of the countries in the world that account for most of the global burden of malnutrition. The country has 3.6 million stunted children which made it rank 9th in terms of countries with the highest burden of stunting, and 10th among the countries with the highest burden of…show more content…
Poverty has been identified as the cause and effect of malnutrition, thus proper action to uplift the poor condition of the nation and its economy will bring a chain reaction and enable the access of Filipino families to adequate nutrition. A decrease in manpower or productivity can lead to loss of billions of pesos and contribute to a higher percentage of poverty in the Philippines. The deficit brought by malnutrition could have been used instead for the betterment of the facilities and projects for the state such as improvement of educational facilities and transportation systems. It can also be observed that malnutrition only brings negative effects to the children and its nation. Furthermore, increasing the money supply of the economy will increase the opportunities for the eradication of poverty and later on malnutrition among Filipino children aged zero to

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