‘1.5 M Pinoy kids going hungry daily’

Millions of Filipino children barely have something to eat despite the country’s remarkable economic growth in the past five years, Vice President Leni Robredo said yesterday.

Robredo warned that child malnutrition could become a huge economic problem if not addressed immediately. “At present, there are 1.5 million Filipino children who go through a day without eating. And all these happened while we were experiencing economic growth that at some point in the past five years was the highest in the world,” the Vice President said at an education summit at the Philippine International Convention Center where she was the keynote speaker. Citing recent data from Save the Children, Robredo said the Philippines is one of the countries in the world with the highest cases of malnutrition. “We have 3.6 million stunted children, causing us to rank 9th among countries with the highest number of stunting, and 10th among countries with the highest burden of wasting. This represents an increase in child malnutrition cases to 33.4 percent in 2015 from 30.3 percent in 2013,” she said. Since children who are stunted have poor physical and mental development, Robredo said they are likely to become repeaters or school dropouts. “Malnutrition can result in P166.5 billion worth of lost income and P160 billion in lost productivity. Overall, we lose three percent of gross domestic product or P328 billion a year due to stunting and wasting,” she said. “The malnutrition problem is a multifaceted one that affects many other aspects of our people’s well-being. If it is not solved now, it will become a huge economic problem later,” she added. Robredo said this year the country has entered into a demographic sweet spot, which means that majority of the population would reach working age. She said this kind of demographic structure – which is expected for the next 40 years – has transformed South Korea and other Asian tigers into economic superpowers. “In other words, the Philippines is right at the cusp of a huge growth spurt that can galvanize our economy,” Robredo said. “But remember that growth from our demographic sweet spot assumes that the majority of our population that will reach working age will be productive. Not stunted. Not physically limited. But healthy, smart, productive and competitive,” she said.