CHILD WASTING

CHILD WASTING My dear countrymen, I was already saddened when I heard about child stunting, now I think I am feeling sadder after I heard about child wasting. I know that I am only a writer, but I feel that it is my duty to tell everyone about it, so that everyone could do something about it if they want to. According to Microsoft Copilot, “child wasting, also known as acute malnutrition, occurs when a child's weight is too low for their height. This condition results from short periods of undernutrition, leading to significant loss of muscle and fat tissue. Wasting is a serious health issue because it weakens the immune system, making children more vulnerable to diseases and developmental delays. It can be caused by factors such as severe food shortages, infections, or both”. Additionally, Copilot also reported that child wasting in the Philippines has been a significant concern, but there have been some improvements over the years. Here are some key data points according to Copilot: · Prevalence: The prevalence of child wasting (acute malnutrition) among children under 5 years old was 5.5% in 2021, down from 5.8% in 2019. · Trends: Between 2013 and 2018, there was a notable decline in wasting prevalence by 2.3 percentage points. However, around 800,000 children in the Philippines are still affected by wasting. · Economic Factors: Improvements in economic outcomes, maternal nutrition status, and energy intake have contributed to the reduction in wasting. · Challenges: Despite progress, the Philippines remains among the countries with the highest prevalence of stunting globally. Additionally, there are concerns about increasing overweight and obesity rates among older children and adolescents. Unfortunately, the latest data available is only from the year 2019. Although some improvements were reported as of that year, it is still worrisome that even then, almost a million children were affected by wasting in the Philippines. What could possibly be the current data now? The Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) serves as the overall coordinating and monitoring body for child welfare programs, including those related to child wasting. Aside from the CWC, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) leads programs like the MAKABATA program, which includes efforts to monitor and address child rights violations, including malnutrition. The CWC is an attached agency of the Office of the President. It serves as the focal inter-agency body of the Philippine Government for children, coordinating the implementation and enforcement of laws related to child welfare If I will be the one to design a nutrition database in the Philippines, I will create three subsets namely those that are affected by child malnourishment, child stunting and child wasting, that way we could determine the gravity of how this problem affects every child. That way, we could also monitor whenever a child slides down or goes up from one subset to another. Other than that, we should also know what foods and nutrients we are feeding these children, and whether they have any effect on their condition or not. Perhaps our government officials must be reminded that child wasting is a subset of child stunting, and that child stunting is a subset of child malnutrition. Going up the problem chain, child malnutrition is a result of hunger, and hunger is the result of poverty. Although it would be wise to solve the problem at the top, it would even be wiser to solve the problem at the root, and the root of the problem is poverty. Your friend, IKE SENERES/12-17-24/visit my blog senseneres.blogspot.com