MALNUTRITION

CamSur tops malnutrition cases in Bicol
By RHAYDZ B. BARCIA


MALNUTRITION. Dr. Aurora Balaoro of DOH Bicol in Siruma, Camarines Sur during an outbreak of diarrhea in the coastal town. Siruma has been identified by the regional office of the National Nutrition Council as one of the towns in Bicol that has high prevalence of malnutrition among its preschoolers.

RHAYDZ B. BARCIA

LEGAZPI CITY --- The province of Camarines Sur registered the highest cases of malnutrition among pre-school children in Bicol despite its much-vaunted gains in tourism and economic development.

Based on consolidated report on the nutritional status of pre-school children, under the program “Operation Timbang 2010” as submitted by the different provincial and city health offices of the six provinces of the Bicol Region, Camarines Sur ranked first with serious malnutrition problem.

Arlene R. Reario, NNC nutrition program coordinator, explained to Bicol Mail that the prevalence rate of malnutrition is based on the number of underweight and severely underweight pre-school children aged 0-17 months old.

The nutritional status of preschool children, on the other hand, is measured according to the WHO-Child Growth Standard using the weigh-for-age indicator.

The province of Camarines Sur which is composed of some 1,063 barangays spread in 35 towns and one component city, has been consistently rated as topnotcher in malnutrition cases since the incumbency of then Governor now Rep. Luis Villafuerte Sr. and up to this time that his son, Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte is now on his third term as provincial governor.

The NNC data show that malnutrition is a public health issue that is hounding Camarines Sur for over a decade now.

Ranked next to Camarines Sur is the island province of Catanduanes, followed by Masbate, Albay and Sorsogon, in that descending order. Quite surprisingly, Camarines Norte, considered as one of the impoverished provinces in Bicol, has been noted to have the least cases of malnourished pre-schoolers.

Among the seven cities in Bicol, Masbate City has the highest reported incidences of malnutrition, followed by Ligao, Tabaco, Legazpi, Iriga and Sorsogon, in that order. Naga City, a Hall of Famer according to standards set by the Nutrition Council of the Philippines, was again evaluated to have the lowest cases of malnourished and undernourished preschool children.

The towns in Bicol with high incidence of poor nutrition among preschoolers were identified as: Rapu-Rapu in Albay, Mercedes in Camarines Norte, Presentacion in Camarines Sur, Viga in Catanduanes, Placer in Masbate and Matnog in Sorsogon.

As shown by the 2010 nutritional status of pre-school children in Camarines Sur, there were 37,229 or 17.16 percent categorized as underweight; 9,036 or 4.16 percent as severely underweight, and; 3,212 or 1.48 percent as overweight. This means that there were a total of 49,477 or 21.32 percent of undernourished children out of 216,972 pre-school children weighed during that year.

Meanwhile, in Albay, Gov. Joey Salceda, in addressing the malnutrition problem in the province, has been reported to have infused some P38 million to be expended for supplemental feeding of 26,000 children enrolled in day-care centers for six months, five days a week.

The Philippine government is one of the signatories among the 189 countries that committed to meet the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations, particularly the eradication or minimization of extreme poverty and hunger by 2015.

It seems, however, that the goal is a difficult one to achieve for most of the local government units in Bicol as recent reports would show.