Save the Children and World Vision call for solid commitment from government to fight child undernutrition

Manila, Philippines – International organizations Save the Children and World Vision are calling on the National Government to strengthen its commitment to reduce cases of child undernutrition in the country, a hidden crisis that is accountable for more than a third of all child deaths worldwide—around 2.3 million in 2011.

The Philippines is one of the 36 high-burden countries where 90% of the world’s undernourished children live, according to the Nutrition Barometer: Gauging national responses to undernutrition, a study published by the two organizations which will be launched on November 20 at the World Vision Development Foundation Office in Quezon City. About 30 representatives from government agencies and non-government organizations are expected to attend the event.

The Nutrition Barometer indicates the strength of country commitments to addressing undernutrition and their nutrition status, relative to other high-burden countries. Here, countries’ commitments are measured and ranked in terms of laws, policies and other efforts at the national level to address undernutrition, and their nutritional and child survival outcomes by tracking the proportion of children who are underweight, stunted and wasted. For each category, countries are divided into four groups of nine – sound, fair, emerging and frail.

Of the 36 countries featured, Guatemala, Malawi and Peru show most progress by demonstrating sound commitments and sound child nutrition and survival outcomes, while the Democratic Republic of Congo, India and Yemen show frail commitments and frail outcomes.

The Philippines, meanwhile, shows weak commitment but still manages to show sound outcome. According to the study, weak commitments combined with relatively strong outcomes may be the result of rapid economic growth, but may have masked the existence of huge inequalities particularly for children belonging to poorest households.

2011 statistics of the Philippines’ National Food Research Institute show that among Filipino children ages 0-5, 3 million or 20% are underweight, 4 million or 34% are short [height for age], and 1 million or 7% are wasted or thin.

Commitments with action

“We are calling on the National Government to take on stronger nutrition strategies that will support their commitment to fight child undernutrition. Global efforts are well underway to reduce malnutrition, and so this is a crucial period for the country to keep moving forward towards this goal,” says Anna Lindenfors, Country Director of Save the Children in the Philippines.

“World Vision is calling on the government to increase the total allocation of national resources to health to reflect the significant burden of mortality and illness from neonatal causes, infectious diseases and undernutrition,’ says Elnora Avarientos, National Director in the Philippines.

World Vision International put children, families and communities at the heart of its interventions to scale up nutrition to achieve the well-being of 150 million of the world’s most vulnerable children by 2016. World Vision is committed to improving maternal and child health through its programmes, as shown by its $1.5 billion support to the Every Woman Every Child initiative to help achieve the shared goal of saving 16 million lives.

From November 13 to 20^th, World Vision International mobilised half a million people in 79 countries in the campaign to reduce preventable deaths of children under five years of age. The Global Week of Action is Child Health Now’s mobilisation event asking decision makers for urgent action to address child mortality. Undernutrition is behind more than one-third of all under-five deaths globally. One in four of all children under 5 (165 million children worldwide) are stunted from undernutrition, preventing them from reaching their full potential.

Global action on nutrition

2012 has been a critical year for action on nutrition. For one, the United States and other G8 countries launched the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, aiming to take 50 million people out of poverty in the next decade.

Last May, the World Health Assembly (WHA) adopted a resolution on maternal, infant and young child nutrition, including global targets to reduce the number of stunted children by 40% by 2025. In addition, the European Commission announced will support high-burden countries to reduce stunting and accept responsibility for 10% of the overall 40% reduction target agreed at the WHA.

Save the Children Health Advisor Amado Parawan explains, “The government needs to increase its focus and political will in fighting children’s undernutrition, and ensure that long-term investments of adequate finances are in place so that outcomes can be sustained over time.”

“Looking outside the Barometer, improvements in nutrition also rely on effective health services combined with efficient education, agriculture and social protection efforts to address underlying causes such as food insecurity and poor sanitation,” he adds.

“This is not just about scaling up efforts in nutrition, but translating existing commitments into swift action. We need to act now, or millions of children worldwide will become physically and mentally stunted in the years ahead,” says Lindenfors.

The Nutrition Barometer also encourages governments to increase the transparency, accountability, and monitoring of nutrition plans, actively participate in global initiatives, increase investments in nutrition interventions, and promote concrete commitments from donors.