1 in 10 children in Cebu village underfed, survey reveals

Thursday, January 26, 2012

CEBU CITY -- For the second year, Barangay Ermita had the most number of underweight and malnourished children among the 80 villages of Cebu City.

Barangay captain Antonieto Flores said local authorities will try to double their efforts in implementing nutrition programs this year.

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The findings are based on the City Health Department’s (CHD) Operation Timbang, where health workers examined how many preschool children 0 to 71 months old were underweight in each barangay.

Of the 1,316 preschool children in Ermita who were weighed last year, 127 (9.6 percent) were found underweight and 31 (2.35 percent) were severely underweight. This was a slight improvement from the barangay’s record the year before.

In 2010, Ermita also landed in the top spot. That year, the CHD weighed 1,368 preschoolers, and found 135 (9.86 percent) underweight and 47 others (3.43 percent) severely underweight.

Flores said there are several non-government organizations (NGOs) that regularly conduct feeding programs in their barangay.

“We will continue the feeding program this year, aside from conducting seminars in the sitios to educate the parents on how to handle child care,” Flore said.

Other barangays in the top 10 with the most cases of malnutrition last year were Sawang Calero, Sapangdaku, Pardo, Babag, Pung-ol, Duljo-Fatima, Suba, Cogon Pardo, and Lusaran.

Cogon-Ramos had the lowest number of underfed children last year. Only three preschoolers (0.46 percent) were found underweight and three others were severely underweight, of the 650 children who were weighed.

The CHD weighed a total of 133,065 preschoolers last year, and 4,969 (3.7 percent) were found underweight, while 926 children (0.69 percent) were severely underweight.

The figures were slightly higher than those recorded in 2010. That year, the CHD weighed 136,525 preschool children, of whom 4,955 (3.62 percent) were underweight and 826 (0.60 percent) were severely underweight.

City Health Officer Estella Ygoña said the parents of underfed children were made to undergo “Pabasa sa Nutrition” training.

Under the program, mothers of malnourished children, including the lactating and pregnant ones, are taught how to fix cheap but fresh and nutritious meals for preschoolers.

Ygoña said they also implemented de-worming activities last year in the different barangays and reached 108,636 children.

The city health officer said the CHD already endorsed their master list of malnourished children to the Department of Social Welfare and Services, to help them set priorities in their feeding program. (ETB of Sun.Star Cebu)