PHILIPPINES: Nutrition gains at risk

from IRIN via AlertNet

In the Philippines, one out of four children is considered underweight or stunted - telling signs of nutritional problems. But this figure, which translates into four million children under 10 being undernourished, is considered an improvement, according to the country's Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI). In the early 1990s, 30 to 40 percent of the same age group were found to be either underweight, stunted or in a worse physical condition.

With the surge in global food prices, however, these gains are at risk. The Philippines is one of the world's largest importers of rice and food security is one of the major determinants of nutritional status, according to specialists.

On 14 April, the Council for Health and Development, a local NGO, issued a statement calling for genuine agrarian reform to address the food crisis, warning that "it will not be surprising if the Philippines shall take the place of sub-Saharan Africa as first in rank in terms of malnutrition incidence", if proper measures are not put in place. About a third of children under five in sub-Saharan Africa are underweight, according to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).

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