The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
By Luis Leoncio
Hunger costs the economy an estimated P328 billion a year – the amount being drained from the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) as a result of childhood stunting, according to a study and a report.
The Save the Children study said the effect of childhood stunting is largely on workforce productivity and education.
Stunting is the most prevalent form of undernutrition, and has permanent effects on a child’s growth and development, the study said.
The report, titled “Cost of Hunger: Philippines,” showed that in 2013, childhood stunting cost the Philippines almost 3 percent of its GDP.
The overall economic loss of P328 billion consists of P166.5 billion in lost income as a result of lower level of education achieved by the working population that suffered from childhood stunting; P160 billion in lost productivity due to premature deaths among children who would have been members of our current working-age population; and P1.23 billion in additional education costs to cover grade repetitions linked to undernutrition.
“The study proves that undernutrition has a cost to all of us. In just a year, the Philippines has lost almost 3 percent of its GDP in terms of education and productivity costs due to stunting. If we add up health costs, the likely impact would be an additional 0.05 to 1.6 percent (of the economic output),” Ned Olney, Save the Children Philippines country director, said.
The report showed that stunting is the best predictor of productivity and income, and that undernutrition is linked to lower human capital.
Children who are stunted in the first two years of life are more likely to repeat grade levels, drop out of school, delay school entry and have lower income levels when they enter the workforce.
“If stunting rates continue to rise, it would be difficult for families to break free from poverty. It is the poor and neglected sectors of society that carry the burden of stunting. Any investment in reducing childhood undernutrition will reduce suffering and poverty, and will ultimately stimulate economic growth for all Filipinos,” Olney added.
The report found, however, that the Philippines’s investment in nutrition programs is “very low” at only 0.52 percent of general government expenditures, compared to the global average allocation of 2.1 percent.
Citing the report findings, Save the Children highlighted the need to invest in nutrition programs during the child’s first 1000 days, from pregnancy up to the second birthday, which is considered a critical period of care to avert stunting.
“Nutrition is the cornerstone of all development efforts. This new report tells us that for every $1 spent on programs to avert stunting in children below 2 years old, the Philippines could save over $100 in health, education, and lost productivity costs,” Olney said.
“It should outrage us that 95 children die every day because of malnutrition,” he added.
Save the Children is raising the alarm on the nutrition crisis, and is calling the national and local governments, the private sector and donors to end the appalling state of malnutrition by:
* Supporting the “First 1000 Days Bill” to enhance the delivery of quality nutrition interventions in the first 1000 days of a child’s life to prevent stunting among children.
■ Pushing and sustaining equitable nutrition policies and programs and ensure budgetary allocations that address the immediate, underlying and basic causes of malnutrition.
■ Ensuring security of tenure and sustained training of the community front-liners, such as barangay health workers and nutrition officers and scholars. Health and nutrition workers are highly politicized, lack incentives and support for trainings, and have no security of tenure.
■ Providing clear and separate budget for nutrition-specific interventions in the budgets of national and the local governments to avoid confusion between health and nutrition budget.
■ Intensifying health and nutrition-related training, research and extension support activities to support the First 1000 Days Program through the Barangay Integrated Development Approach for Nutrition Improvement (Bidani) Network Program of the Rural Poor and other relevant approaches, thereby strengthening the delivery systems in partnership with the local government units (LGUs).
■ Scaling up cost-effective and affordable high-impact nutrition interventions to prevent undernutrition that cripples the country, such as promotion of exclusive breastfeeding, complementary feeding, vitamin A and iron supplementation, treatment of acute malnutrition and maternal nutrition.
■ Strengthening the enforcement of the Milk Code and the Expanded Breastfeeding Promotion Act to protect, promote, and support optimal infant and young child feeding, both in private and public facilities and spaces.
■ Sustaining the strict implementation of nutrition-specific interventions, including infant and young child feeding, micronutrient supplementation and the Community Management of Acute Malnutrition, which is now required to be implemented nationwide.
■ Revising the terms under the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) to include mandatory breastfeeding and education sessions on infant and young child feeding.
■ Aligning health and nutrition programs to the priorities and directions of the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition and the Strategy for Women, Infant, and Young Child Nutrition.