Thursday, July 08, 2004 21,000 children under 6 in Cebu malnourished By Charmaine Y. Rodriguez
CEBU CITY -- Cebu now ranks first in Central Visayas with the most number of malnourished children age six years and below.
Also, a third of about 2,000 pre-school children living in five Cebu City barangays are undernourished, a 2003 report from the National Nutrition Council 2003 showed.
Breastfeeding
Letlet Mission, nutrition program coordinator of the nutrition council’s Region 7 office, said they have seen a decline in breastfeeding mothers, resulting to an increase in infant mortality over the years.
According to Nutrition Council records, the prevalence rate of pre-school children suffering from severe and moderate malnutrition already increased from 7.72 percent last year from the 7.75 percent in 2002.
For towns with the most number of underweight children below six years old are from the north: Tuburan, 43.88 percent; Madridejos, 43.26 percent; San Francisco, 41.11 percent; Borbon, 40.36 percent; and Tabuelan, 39.05 percent.
Of the province’s 284,568 children below six years who were weighed, at least 2,179 suffered from severe malnutrition while 19,722 were under the moderate malnutrition category.
In Cebu City, Barangays Sawang Calero, Suba, Duljo, Tabunan and Buot-Taup topped the list.
Barangays Mantuyong, Cubacob, Casili, Centro and Tipolo in Mandaue City while Barangays Buaya, Bankal, Caubyan, Punta Engaño, Marigondon in Lapu-Lapu City are among the top five.
For this year’s Nutrition Month celebration, Mission said in yesterday’s Kapihan sa PIA that they are advocating breast-feeding as well as complementary feeding for infants when they reach six months old, to improve their health.
Dr. Dahlia Go, neonatologist of the Philippine Pediatric Society Cebu, Central and Eastern Visayas chapter, described breast milk as the “best food” for babies.
Bonding
Aside from freeing parents from expenses on milk formula, Go said breast-feeding strengthens emotional bonding between mother and child.
Breast milk also provides nutrients and antibodies that protect babies from allergies, diarrhea and respiratory problems.
However, parents need to give complementary food, like cereals, to six-month-old babies to prevent malnutrition from setting in.
In Wednesday’s forum, Pastor Daniel Trazo, health educator of Miller Hospital, also talked about the need for adults to eat right and to minimize smoking, drinking of alcoholic beverage and eating meat, which are causes of “lifestyle diseases” like hypertension.
Stress management, adequate water intake and rest are also needed to avoid health problems.
Go, who is a consultant at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, said there is an increasing trend of premature infants suffering from infections and high blood pressure at birth due to the poor health of mothers.
Pregnant mothers and women planning to have babies are reminded to make sure they eat right and to take in adequate amounts of folic acid to prevent congenital anomalies on babies, Mission said.
They also want to promote “urban agriculture” to encourage vegetable gardening in urban barangays.
Mission said Cebu City residents could seek help from the City Agriculture Office at the North Reclamation Area if they intend to have one in their homes.
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