SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS

1.1 Snapshot of the Nutrition Situation in the Philippines The nutrition situation in the country in 2016 is alarming. The snapshot below gives a loud call to action. Current indicators of nutritional status show the prevalence of wasting, stunting, micronutrient deficiencies and overweight among children and women are high and of public health significance. The trend of indicators of nutritional status shows a lack of improvement and in some cases worsening from 2003-2015.

The country did not reach major targets in the two six-year (2005-2010 and 2011-2016) Philippine Plans of Action for Nutrition and the food and nutrition security goals of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The cost of malnutrition in the country in terms of mortality and productivity, has reached excessive levels for the country to ignore. Child malnutrition is associated with the two major diseases affecting children and with about half of under-five mortality. The Philippines’ nutritional status ranks among the poorest among ASEAN and other developing countries. Higher prevalence of malnutrition is exhibited in Regions ARMM, Eastern Visayas, MIMAROPA, geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDAs), territories where indigenous peoples are living, regions vulnerable to climate and man-made disasters including conflict. There appears to be a pattern associating malnutrition with poverty, isolation, vulnerability to natural and man-made disasters. Added to this is the growing prominence of adolescent pregnancy. While recent poverty and hunger reports in 2016 show a decline in the incidence of poverty and hunger, food security is precarious, particularly among the poor who constitute a significant proportion of Filipino households.