TO ADDRESS issues on underweight children, the Mandaue City Nutrition Office (MCNO) has started providing maternal milk for pregnant women and dietary supplements for children.
The City is also closely monitoring the health of children, with nurses, midwives and barangay health workers conducting regular checks.
In its report, MCNO said underweight and wasting emerged as the top malnutrition issues among children in Mandaue City for the first quarter of 2024.
MCNO assessed 28,260 (83 percent) of 33,879 children in 27 barangays trough its Operation Timbang program, achieving an 83 percent completion rate. This program measures the height and weight of children aged 0–59 years to determine their nutritional status.
Malnourished children are weighed monthly to track their progress and adjust interventions as needed.
However, they are unable to provide the names of the barangays with the highest number of malnutrition cases.
Acting City Nutrition Officer Jake Ian Seno told reporters on Thursday, Aug. 8, that 2.46 percent of the children assessed in the Operation Timbang were underweight in the first three months in 2024, an increase from 1.48 percent in the same period in 2023.
As for wasting, Seno said 0.94 percent of the children suffered this condition in the first quarter this year compared to 0.47 percent in the same period last year.
Underweight refers to a condition where a child’s weight is significantly below the average for their age, often due to inadequate nutrition, while wasting is a condition characterized by rapid weight loss or a failure to gain weight, resulting in a child being too thin for their height.
MCNO reported a decrease in stunting, with severely stunted children dropping to 3.47 percent in the first quarter of 2024 compared to 4.46 percent in 2023.
Overweight and obesity rates also decreased to 1.27 percent in the first quarter of 2024 from 1.56 percent in the same period last year.
Stunting refers to a condition where a child is significantly shorter than the average height for their age due to chronic malnutrition. Overweight or obesity is a condition where a child has excess body weight for their height, often due to an imbalance between calorie intake and expenditure.
MCNO’s Operation Timbang program aligns with the National Nutrition Council-Central Visayas, which mandates the monitoring of children.
Operation Timbang is an annual, three-month program conducted from January until March by barangay health workers and city nutrition scholars.
Josephine Aniñon, city nutrition officer, said pregnant women must eat proper meals is key against childhood malnutrition. The first 1,000 days of a child’s life, from pre-pregnancy to age two, is critical in having a healthy child.
Seno said that one of the main factors contributing to malnutrition is poverty.
“When we talk about malnutrition, it’s not just about the child’s nutrition but the family’s capability. If parents lack financial resources, they cannot provide adequate nutrition for their children,” Seno said in Cebuano. / CAV